AE 514 – Informal English: ‘To Be Shit’ vs ‘To Be THE Shit’

What’s going on, guys? So, I had to share this story with you because it was quite funny. I had never even thought of this to be honest, but this it’s going to be an episode where I talk about a swear word in English or informal English.

So, just be careful if you decide to use these phrases or the word. Just be careful when and how you use it, but I want to share this with you because I think it’ll be helpful for your understanding a bit more about English expressions, a bit more about how we use swear words and a bit more about Australian culture in particular where swearing is pretty common amongst friends in informal situations.

Okay, so, the two expressions that I want to talk about today are when you say that something is shit and when you say that something is the shit. Ok? And so, if something is shit, it’s awful. Ok, so I have coffee here, if I take a sip.

Oh, that coffees horrible, it’s awful. It’s shit. Well, this is really shit. It’s shit. So, in that case I’m using the word shit which means faeces, poo. We use that in English to talk about things that are horrible, we can use it in English to talk about things that are horrible not always as you’re about to find out.

So, if I say something is shit, it’s horrible. The weather is shit, outside is shit, my friends are shit. The beach is shit. There are no waves. I can’t surf today. It’s shit!

This room is shit. If I want to use it like that, it’s very informal because I’m using a swear word, but I can say this around friends, around people that you hear swearing. If you hear people using the word shit, generally, that means it’s okay for you to use the word shit and again because you’re describing other things, you’re not using it directly at that person, you’re in less danger of offending anyone, right? So, if I say you’re shit, that’s when it starts to get more offensive, right?

If the person doesn’t see that I’m kidding, if I’m not joking around they may get offended, anyway, to say something is shit using it as an adjective like that, it is shit, is describing it as horrible, awful, really bad.

Alright. Now when I use it as a noun to say that something is THE shit. Ok? That is the important difference here, THE shit

It means the thing is awesome, that it is amazing that it is the best, okay? So, it has literally completely changed the meaning. If I use it as an adjective this coffee is shit, it’s horrible. If I say this coffee is the shit, and now I’m saying it as a noun, it’s awesome. It is the best, it is the shit. Ok?

So, that was something really confusing for Kel recently. I went away with my family and my mum had cooked a really good cake, a cheesecake and
we loved this cheesecake and my friend James had come over, you’ve probably heard or seen him on videos, on the podcast. He’s around.

So, he’d come over, mum cut him a piece of cake and gave him a piece of cake and it was an informal situation, we were drinking, having fun
It was a party and James said to my mum ‘Jo, this cake is the shit!’ Like ‘Joe, this cake is amazing!’

Kel, my fiancée at the time, who is now my wife, was like ‘James! You can’t say that! The cakes really good. How can you say that it’s shit?!’ And that was what was so funny because I realized I was like, oh my Gosh, we can use shit and the shit to mean completely opposite things.

She had heard, she had thought that James had said the cake was shit, that it was horrible, that it was awful. This cake is shit, but actually James had said that the cake was the
shit, meaning the complete opposite, that the cake was amazing. So, that was a funny story, that was a bit of context there for you guys for how to use shit as an adjective if we’re describing something this thing is shit, but if you want to say that something is the shit using it now as a noun, The shit, it means that it is
amazing ok?

And I guess too, to quickly add, don’t use A shit, ok? Because we would use if someone is a shit, especially a child, a little shit, it means that they are a horrible child. So, we can use it as a noun in that sense to mean someone’s a horrible child. This little kid is a shit. He is a little shit. But yeah and that was the situation so, it gives you a bit of an understanding too of what it is like my best friend from high school, we know each other really well. He knows my family, the

Occasion was very casual. It was informal. We were having dinner. We were just sitting around talking, drinking in those sorts of situations it is ok to swear if you know the people you’re speaking with are the kind of people who are either ok with you swearing or you hear them swearing themselves. So, in the case of my mum she doesn’t swear very often, she may swear if you swear, sort of as a joke, but she doesn’t swear very often, whereas someone like me, my father, my sister, we tend to swear a little bit more.

So, for you advice with regards to using this kind of language, I would use it with very good friends or I would use it with people that I don’t know as well if they’re using this kind of language, if they are swearing in front of you about things, if someone says Oh man, this coffee shit, you know, you can probably say oh no, but I think that this food is the shit and no one’s going to get offended, ok?

You know, you can’t really be offended if you’re using a certain language and someone else starts using the same kind of language.

Anyway, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode, guys. I hope it gives you some interesting insights into swear words how they can be used in casual and informal language and how words don’t always mean the same thing in different contexts. Sometimes they can mean completely different things. Ok? So, remember if something is shit, it’s horrible. If something is the shit, it’s amazing. Okay?

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AE 513 – IELTs Course: Lesson 3 – Hobbies

What’s up, guys! Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today is an IELTS lesson about hobbies. So, this is going to be broken into two parts. Kel and I are going to just have a discussion about our hobbies so, that you guys can hear and natural discussion in English, using different phrases, different vocab, everything like that. This will be up on the podcast and then there’ll be a second video and lesson where we will go through how to prepare for the speaking test. The questions you might get and then we’ll also break down different pieces of vocab and expressions that we suggest that you practice that you could use on these test for IELTS, Cambridge, PTE, whatever it might be, ok? So, let’s get into it. Kel, me about your hobbies. What do you do for fun? How do you enjoy your spare time?

Hmmm Let me think. That’s one thing you don’t want to do during your Speaking Test, hesitation, it’s not good. They’ll be like, you don’t know what you doing.

Come prepared.

Come prepared. Yeah.

You can make things up so, but I’ll tell the truth here. I’m really into photography. Cause I think and we’ve both, you know, drawn into. A little bit because of your Dad, I think, because your dad is a wild life photographer.

He just does photography in general.

Yeah, you know as a journalist I’m kind of in the same direction, but I do enjoy doing that it makes me go outside and keeps me fit and it’s fun and you go back home when you edit your photos. It’s such good fun.

It’s a bit like playing Pokémon.

Yeah.

Anyone who knows Pokémon the game it’s kind of like you go into a new area and you see all these new pokémon and you never know what you going to get, and photography is a bit like that too, where you’ll go out and you take all these photos, quite often you don’t see them in your home and then you’re like oh these ones are amazing, these ones are horrible, these ones awesome.

I think for you… you found something you really into very soon, like birds for example, or wildlife. And I’m still working on what my thing is, I like photographing animals, I like photographing people, street photography so, I’m not really into one single thing.

You’re not obsessed with one thing.

Yeah, I like doing bits and pieces of different things.

You like to dabble in a few different areas.

And then the gear stuff like you have to understand how your camera works and he is much better than me…

I think I’m just a bit more obsessed. It’s a very cerebral kind of a hobby where you have to learn all of these kind of complicated things if you want to get good at it, it’s not like… I run. That’s my hobby, my hobby is running, where is just left, right, left, right, left, right. Photography’s are a lot more gear oriented, you need to buy gear, you need to buy different lenses, you need to understand when they work, how they work. What to change with regards to techniques and features, it’s very good.

It’s unpredictable, right? Like in one day you might have, you know, the sun’s out and the light is perfect and your photos are great, but the next day it might be overcast and you have to change your settings and adapt to different conditions.

So, it is very variable. I think that’s part of the fun is that you just never know what you’re going to get.

Yes.

How long have you been into it? How long have you been into photography?

I did a little bit in Brazil as a journalist, but it was work related so, it wasn’t so, you know, as much fun as now because I was doing that for work, which was enjoyable but not I didn’t have as much freedom to play with the camera and to do different things. Just recently I’ve taken up this hobby for the last, what, three four months I would say.

May be longer than that.

Probably six months in Canberra.

Yeah in fact, Kel’s engagement ring, she’s got a wedding ring on her engagement ring was actually this camera because I was like, you know, I would prefer to buy you something that you can use that isn’t just a ring with that amount of money, right? Because engagement rings tend to be a lot more expensive than wedding rings and we bought the camera.

And we can both use it.

I can use Kel’s engagement ring.

It should go on the cultural differences, right? Cause here only the girl has the engagement ring, which is completely pointless.

Back in Brazil, what were your hobbies growing up? What did you used to do when you were a little kid in your spare time or to have fun?

That was my question, my IELTS question last time I did IELTS.

They used the set up, ‘what did you do as a kid for fun?’ Okay.

Yeah, exactly. I didn’t have many toys like, growing up. I would get presents for Christmas and you know kids break everything so, I would have to be really creative with my sister and one of our favourite hobbies was.

Breaking toys.

Not breaking toys, but like coming up with crazy plays, like she would be the mum, I would be the baby or we would be two, you know, friends visiting a different country it was really a imagination sort of…

You had to use your imagination.

Absolutely.

To have fun and go in this little adventure.

Yes. I liked playing outside with my friends on the street ,when I was allowed to, obviously, it wasn’t really something I would do very often. But that was fun, growing up like having friends on the street like, you know, the neighbours and we would go to their house and play with them. I had some like Barbies.

Actual Barbie dolls, not barbecues, Kel used to be obsessed with the hobby of having barbecues as a kid. Barbies, that doll Barbie.

I had some and we would play with them as well, it was fun. It’s…I think my childhood was very different from yours because I didn’t have the chance to learn how to swim or learn how to ride my bike or things like that. So, my hobbies were much more related to imagination and other kids and people and I would have to be creative and I think for you and you know for other people it might be swimming or you did piano as well, right?

Well, a lot of these activities more so than hobbies.

You didn’t enjoy it.

Where I was sort of forced. I remember the first day when I had to do piano lessons my mum gave me a note that I had to take to school and she said give this to a friend of hers who worked at the school as a piano teacher. I don’t even know and I gave this note to this lady and the lady’s like, oh sit down Pete you’re starting piano lessons, I was like I don’t want to start piano lessons.

So, we can say that hobbies are things you enjoy doing, right?

I would definitely say that.

So, if you’re forced to do it, it’s not a hobby.

It’s something that you enjoy doing, you spend time doing that thing.

Relaxes you.

Exactly. So for me, growing up there are many activities that I have to do, but I don’t think I would never have called the piano a hobby, I didn’t like it. I never called that swimming a hobby because I didn’t like it. You had to do it because you had to learn how to swim to be safe, but hobbies that I did have included things like skateboarding, I used to love doing, Surfing, I used to love doing, fishing. I used to love going fishing, you know, and doing that, but my dad used to hate fishing so I would always be me alone on the pier and he would just be there you know sort of like…

Because you don’t like fishing nowadays.

I don’t mind, but I know it’s not something I’m really into, I’m not really into fishing. I’d go if you were someone who came to me and said I have this fishing gear, I’ve got a boat, do you want to go fishing? I’d be like oh hell yeah, but I’m not going to go out of my way to lash out a lot of money on gear for fishing. It’s one of those things I could get into, but there are only so many hours in the day and I prefer doing at least at the moment photography, Aussie English, Aussie English is…It kind of, it started as a hobby, right? So Aussie English began as a hobby for me because I wasn’t getting paid for it. It was just something I did to help people and I enjoyed doing it. But that went from a hobby into a career or went from a hobby into a job. When I monetised, when I started making money from my hobby. So, that was that was a really, really good process I guess turning a hobby into a career.

And that’s a great thing like you end up doing something like gardening or whatever it is, and you find a way to make money out of the thing you enjoy the most. So, that’s great, absolutely great and unfortunately, I haven’t done it, I need to find a way to make money out of my hobbies. Yeah.

How do you make money from talking, Kel?

From reading.

What are you doing right now?

Yeah so, nowadays I would say my you know things I’m much more passionate about are reading, one because I’m pregnant and I’m trying to read as much as I can about pregnancy and education and child development and stuff.

So, would you call pregnancy a hobby.

No.

It’s not enjoyable!

It is enjoyable sometimes, but not enough for me to say it’s a hobby.

I’d be worried if he said the pregnancy is my hobby.

Imagine that?! Like every year.

That’s it, I do it every year.

I love reading, I love… learning how to swim is a very recent thing and I’m still like really dodgy, I’m a horrible swimmer, but I really enjoy being in the water, going to the swimming pool and like playing there and like making fun of myself.

For me I think it’ll be Photography has definitely become my primary hobby. The main hobby that I’m sort of obsessed with and into so, any time I have spare time, to the detriment of our spare time, Kel is quite often like Oh God, he’s watching videos again about photography or he’s editing video, or he’s editing photos. So, I do become a bit obsessive. I do like a lot, but I also say I guess I enjoy going to the gym at the moment, that’s my other hobby. Watching documentaries, I guess that’s a hobby, I do that with Kel quite a bit, we like to watch documentaries.

Going to the movies is a hobby, I love that, you don’t really like that, so…

Not as into it, I don’t like people eating popcorn in a big room.

Like if I had to explain that if I was actually doing IELTS today and I had to explain why going to the movies is so enjoyable for me I would say it’s a whole different thing, like you is a social thing, right? You leave your house, you go out. You might have someone else with you or you might do it by yourself, but the whole experience is what is enjoyable like have this big screen in front of you, and popcorn of course, so the whole thing is different from watching a movie in your house. Sometimes I just want to do that, bit like going out and seeing people, just like being outside…

It’s the atmosphere.

Yes, exactly.

So, do you have any friends or family with weird hobbies or anything you’d never do?

My mum’s a bit obsessed with reading, to a point that she and I don’t know if your mum is like that as well…

I think she probably is. You mean with like novels.

No nonfiction, but fiction. So, it’s like all these stories and everything. And romance novels?

Romance novels, it’s just gross.

My mom has a library of romance novels.

My mum has a library too. The thing is, it takes so much space. I love books. I want to have a library in my house. But then when you can’t move in the house, that when I think it gets complicated because…

It goes from a hobby to an obsession.

I think my mom is a different level.

She’s addicted to collecting books. When do you ever read them too? That’s what I always said to my mom I’m like you’ve got all these books, but do you ever read them twice or do you just buy one and put it on the shelf after you’ve read it and that’s it?

Absolutely, I don’t know. I love reading, but I think I’m much more willing to give away the books I’ve already read, as gifts to friends or you know, I don’t like…. I like collecting things, but not to the point where my life is completely taken over by this hobby.

It’s an easy thing to fall into, especially because I think human nature is kind of like we need to collect resources. And so you have to try to avoid that and I always feel that with like photography gear, for example, oh what’s the next thing that I can get, Kel is always like no… no.

Yeah. Because you have to set a limit, when you’re doing something and you’re buying things because you need them or you just want to have the, you know, the latest sort of camera or whatever, because the cameras work absolutely fine and you’re doing so much with them and unless you do you have the need to have a different camera or different lens or whatever it is, I don’t see the point, but I’m stingy, so…

Kel doesn’t like spending much money.

Yeah, I mean.. I do… but yeah, you’re right.

So, are there any hobbies that you could never imagine yourself doing?

Dangerous stuff like surfing. I don’t know how to swim, so one day when I finally learn, I might be brave enough to go in the water and surf, but that’s for me, that’s a bit scary.

I think for me it would be more the boring things, my mom is obsessed with collecting stamps. I think would, I could never imagine myself doing that. I used to do it when I was a little kid. I think for like a few months and then I was like I’m over this. I’m over it, I’m not interested, I want something else, I want a skateboard, no stamps.

You asked before about weird hobbies and stuff, I really like fishing. It’s not something I do all the time and it has been ages since I last went fishing, but I absolutely love it. I can spend a whole day, you know, in a boat, just there relaxing waiting for the fish to come. I love it. I think I get the same feeling you get from photography.

Because you never know what you’re going to get.

It’s strategic, right? Like you’re there, you have to know what to do, and a lot of people think you don’t do anything, but actually there’s a lot of thinking behind fishing.

I thought you just put the bait on the hook. You just cast the line out get a beer, and that’s it.

You have to understand like the tide and just everything, it’s just really, really nice and something I’ve been trying to do a lot recently and I’m into it, but I’m not as good as I wanted it to be cooking. So, I think is a bit like chemistry, right? Like you have this step by step whatever recipe and you need to make it to something, you know, tasty and people will enjoy it and I love it.

You’ve got to use all these ingredients, two parts this, one part this, mix here.

And I usually mess up. My last attempts were not so successful, But I’m getting there, it is really enjoyable. I recommend it for people who want to take up new hobbies.

Brilliant, awesome. Alright, guys! So that’s it for the conversation stuff. Hopefully you guys learnt a whole bunch of vocab and expressions and you could see how we were using them in a natural kind of conversation and so, if and when you have these exams in the future you’ll have a lot of different content here that you can use when having those kinds of conversations. Now we’re going to move on to the second video so, remember if you want access to that for all the other lessons that are going to be in this course go to theaussieenglishclassroom.com enroll and you’ll get access to all the other content that comes after these discussion videos. See you there!

Announcement: How the Aussie English Memberships Work

G’day, guys, and welcome to this announcement episode of Aussie English.

Today, I want to chat to you about the memberships, what I have to offer on Aussie English, and I want to clear up any confusion that there is.

So, I just received one e-mail from a subscriber to TheAussieEnglishPodcast.com and there seems like there was a bit of confusion. The person didn’t understand that it is a monthly membership. You pay each month, right. If you get the monthly membership, the one that is currently $4.99/month, every month you are charged automatically when you sign up, okay. And there’s obviously a six-month membership where you are charged every six months, and there’s the 12-month membership where you were charged every twelve months. And unfortunately, this person was quite annoyed and angry suggesting that I had tricked them and was automatically taking this money from them. It’s not that I’m tricking you guys. I’m not trying to be dishonest. It explicitly says on the sales page that it is a $4.99 membership every single month.

So, I just wanted to make this episode to clarify the different memberships that I have, why I have them, and that they are automatic payments, right. So, when you guys sign up to these things, whether it’s a monthly membership, six months, a yearly membership, you’re entering your details in to a plug in that I have on my web site and it deals with these transfers automatically. It’s not me personally taking this money from you, okay. This is all automatically done through these programs on the web site.

So, why do I have two different memberships? The podcast one, the Aussie English Podcast membership, was to give people access to all the transcripts for every single episode on the podcast, as well as the MP3s so that they can download and listen to these episodes anywhere, any time on their computers, on their phones, which they can already do if they use a podcast app, but some people wanted the actual MP3 to be able to have on their computer, open up, and write and, I don’t know, I guess, change, listen to, slow down, whatever they wanted to do with it. But then also, I had a lot of people asking for written transcripts for every single podcast episode.

Now, initially, I wasn’t… I wasn’t writing out the transcript for every episode, because it takes a lot of time. I was doing it for the expression episodes, and then sometimes for the interview episodes, but it requires a lot of time to listen to audio that is 15, 30, 60 minutes long sometimes, sometimes longer, and write out every single word that is said. So, it would usually take 45 minutes for a 15-minute episode, three hours for a one-hour episode. So, I needed to pay someone else to do this.

So, that is why there is the Aussie English Podcast membership. When you sign up to this for the price of $4.99 a month at the moment, so like 1 coffee a month, you get access to every single podcast episode that comes out now with the MP3 and the transcript that you can then download and read, listen to, anywhere anytime, whether you’re connected to the Internet or not. It’s just there for anyone who wants just the written material and the audio for the podcast itself. Okay? So, that’s what that’s about.

The other membership I have that is separate from the Aussie English podcast dot com. Membership is the classroom. The Aussie English Classroom. Now this is different and it’s not connected to this, because people didn’t want to get both. So, I wanted… I had people who just wanted to have the podcast material and then I had people who wanted the courses and everything else that I have in the classroom, which doesn’t include every single episode on the podcast, although, it does include things like the expression episodes and the IELTs courses. Any of the stuff that I put in the classroom, usually, has a component or part of it that is on the podcast, but not everything on the podcast goes into the Classroom.

So, at the moment, the Aussie English Classroom is full of courses, every single expression episode that comes out now is of course in the Aussie English Classroom. There is also a pronunciation course in there with videos and audio that isn’t on the podcast. There’s interview courses in there as well for you to practice your listening comprehension of Australian accents. Interviews with other Aussies. And then there are some advanced grammar and English lessons in there as well. So, there are currently over 50 courses in there. So, this is where the bulk of Aussie English’s content is. It’s in the Aussie English Classroom.

So, that’s why I have these two separate memberships, and I want to remind you guys that with these memberships, there on-going. So, if you sign up for the Aussie English Podcast membership, it is an automatic payment that comes out every month or six months or 12 months depending on your membership. And it’s the same for the Aussie English Classroom, where if you pay per month, it comes out every month. If you have a three-month or six-month or 12-month membership, it comes out automatically every three, six, or 12 months. Okay?

So, I just wanted to clarify that for you guys, and to let you know how it works, why it works that way, and what each of them have to offer. If you would like to sign up for either of them, go to TheAussieEnglishPodcast.com or go to TheAussieEnglishClassroom.com and you can sign up and give it a go. Okay.

And remember, the Aussie English Classroom is just one dollar for the first month, right. So, you get 30 days for a dollar. That kind of deal isn’t anywhere and I want you to have that so that you can get in there and really give it a go before paying the full fee per month. Okay. So, really take advantage of that deal, guys.

If you have any questions feel free to email me any time at TheAussieEnglishPodcast [at] gmail dot com. And yeah, I hope that clears up any confusion with those memberships and with English.

Thanks for joining me, guys, and I will chat to you next time. See ya!

AE 512: Kel & I Chat about Our New Studio & House!

Kelly, welcome to the very first episode of Aussie English in my new studio.
It looks amazing.
Smells amazing.
Smells amazing. True.
How do you feel? It’s a bit of a different set up, isn’t it.
It’s great. It’s very different, ’cause you always had to improvise, right, like, I mean, at least when we were living with your parents, it was always like, oh dad can I use your office, or like, you know, doing things in a very improvised way, but now you’re very professional, so…
Feels more professional and sound better, hopefully. I’ll have to check out the audio after this. But, so, we’ve got like new microphones. We’ve got a new desk. What have we got? We’ve got some special arms.
A new house, man.
We’ve got a new house as well. We do, we do. So… well, what do you want to talk about, Kel, ’cause it’s… well, we should probably tell them.
It’s a trial.
It’s 9:59 PM.
Just came back from Melbourne.
Yeah, Kel’s had the day at work and I’ve just dragged her out of bed and told her to get on the podcast. I’m like, c’mon let’s do an episode. We can just give them an update. We can just chat. We can… we can talk about nothing in particular. We can give them an update as to Kel’s pregnancy, the House. Business as usual or is it a bit different at the moment? What’s been going on in our life, Kel?
A lot.
Give me the deets. Give me the down low. You know, give me the information.
We’ve finally settled. I mean, there are still a couple of things in the house to organise, but it does feel like a house, finally, like, you know, we have our place and after six months of sharing houses with people and another like four months… four or three months with your parents?
We went back to my folks’ place I think September. Yeah. So, we came back in the 15th, right?
Yes.
All right, so we were there on the 15th until… What’s the date today? The day is like the 12th, and we’ve been here for, what, almost a week?
In the house? We moved… yeah, a week. Exactly a week. Last Wednesday.
Yes so, we were at my folks’ place for a bit over two and a half months. So, it was alright, but it was a bit full on. Just with… not because they’re bad people or they’re frustrating or anything. There’s just a lot of people in the house, so we’re sort of used to it, and just needing to find space, right. So, any time I wanted to record a podcast, I would have to find somewhere quiet, you know, whether it was in our room. I didn’t have a desk, ’cause there was just stuff everywhere and… or I would have to ask for Dad’s office to try and use that when he wasn’t using it for his things. So, it wasn’t ideal, but beggars can’t be choosers. It was definitely good, because we saved a lot of money. I could obviously save a few thousand dollars and spend that on this studio, getting the house organised as well has been pretty expensive. So, we’re back down to, you know, running on fumes. We’re back down to zero effectively. But yeah it’s been good.
That’s it. I think it was hard for you saying that you work from home and having people always… always have people around. It does feel like, Oh, he’s always here. So, I think we have some time to take you for granted, yeah. Like, can you drive me… you know, can you take me somewhere? Can you do this?
Well, one of the things I think that was annoying me the most was Mum would always come in and ask me to do stuff whilst I was behind the computer, and like, Dad would be in his office, so I would use the kitchen dining room table as my desk and, I mean, I understand, you walk into the room and you see me there, and you think, oh, Pete’s here and he’s just on his computer. So, he’s probably just, you know, fluffing about, but and I probably was at times. But yeah, that was the hardest thing. I’d be working, I’d be editing podcasts, I’d be doing whatever, and mum I’d be like, can you take out the trash? Can you take the dog for a walk? What are you doing for dinner? And I’d be like, Mum, can you just give me five or 10 minutes? I’m just trying to finish this up.
But it’s hard for people around you, I guess, because it’s not that… at least, I can only speak for myself. But like, It’s not that I don’t respect your time, like, oh I just… you’re here, I assume you’re free to do whatever. It’s more like, I don’t know if you’re taking a break, I don’t know if you’re into like the miiddle of something really important. So, you know, I end up asking, can you do this and that? And then, oh no, like, he’s actually working hard right now.
It’s all right. And that’s the good thing, I guess, about my job is the fact that I can… I can be more flexible. So, I can… I can do what I’m doing, but I can… It doesn’t have to… It usually doesn’t have to be done right then and there. I can go away, I can, you know, spend time with you, I can go out walk the dog, I can take the trash out, and I can come back and then measure the work.
But on the other hand, if you, you know, if you take those things… if you let it take over, you’ll be like, oh, it’s 10pm, I haven’t done enough time. So, you have to be extra determined and organised.
Yeah. That happens at times.
Well, and I think the hardest part for me at the moment is finding a rhythm and finding boundaries. So, trying to get…
Boundaries for your for other people?
No, more for, like, where I need to get everything done by a certain amount of time. So, as opposed to is letting things kind of roll over like, oh, today I didn’t do this so I’d do it tomorrow or oh, I didn’t finish there by 5:00 so I’ll keep working until 11:00p.m. I think the difficult thing for me is now going to be getting used to having boundaries, especially, with the baby on the way.
Yeah, I was about to say that. Havnig the baby at home. I’m sure there’ll be times when I’m like, can I just have a hand, or can… you have to step in.
Which is fair enough.
Absolutely.
But also, I want to be free, because I want to spend time with the baby. So, I want to get everything done by a certain amount of time. And I think this is something… I wanted to talk about this for a while, I guess, with you, the pregnancy and everything, you and I are pretty different with preparing for things. I kind of just run in head first and I’m kind of like, ah, we’ll work it out. Like, I feel like it’s… for me, it’s kind of like when I was at university. It’s probably the story of my life. I’ve probably always been like this where it’s like, ah, I don’t have a plan, but I know that because there is a date when it has to be done by, it’ll get done. You know, like, I’ve always had that, whether it’s been my high school assignments, all the way through to my masters degree and my PhD at university. It was always like, okay, well, there is a cutoff date and I don’t know how many get it done, but it’s going to get done.
I think I was like that, but there was a… there was a turning point in my life when I really thought I had to take responsibility. I mean, not sayinig that you don’t, I’m just saying personally for me, it was really like I was always relying on people to do things for me and since I became, like, the person who deals with my own problems and I solve things and I’m in charge, I became this obsessed person, like, I’m always… I’m trying to control things and I have to do something I’ll prepare for it, like…
Well, it’s a two-edged sword, right, it’s a two-edged blade, where you’re a lot more organized than I am, but you’re a lot more rigid when thinking what you want to do and what you have done, and I think you’re a bit more, I daresay, neurotic in that you worry a lot about certain things. And, to my detriment, I don’t worry about things enough. So, I think it is… and this is where you and I probably balance each other out really well, I think, in our relationship, because you… I think you think the worst quite often for things and you worry, and I maybe assume the best when it’s not necessarily going to work out that well. And so, I think we end up in them in the middle somewhere usually, which works out well, ’cause I’m always like, ah, don’t worry, it’ll be fine. Why are you crying? It’ll be fine. The baby’ll be fine. We don’t have any money, but it will be all good. Don’t worry. It’s like… we’re not going to die in the street. Something’s going to work out. And Kel’s always like, that doesn’t fill me with confidence.
I don’t know. Yeah, I am a bit neurotic I think. But it’s not something, like, I’m conscious about loss of time. Like with house, I was freaking out. I’m still a bit, you know, uneasy, because you have things everywhere. So, I want to get my… I go on holidays and I want to organise everything. So until I do that I just keep thinking about it.
So, it just eats at you. You’re constantly thinking about, oh my gosh, there’s a mess in the house.
I have to paint the furniture.
Paint the furniture. I’ve got to organise all this. I know. Whereas, I’m just like, ah, it’ll get done. When it gets in the way. You know, I think if we were both in our house that was on fire, the moment the candle is lit and has fallen over you’re freaking out running around screaming, and I’m just like, yeah, whatever.
I wonder who’s going to be saved.
Well that’s it. And then by the time the entire house is on fire and I’m laying down trying to avoid the smoke, I’m like, I think it’s probably time to leave. It’s not going to be okay.
It is a good balance, I guess, because you… a lot of times, you make me calm and, you know, you’re supportive and you say, things’ll be fine, and it does help. But other times, I’m like, Pete, you have to do it and that you’re doing it right now. So, it is good that we help each other.
So, it’s a lot of carrot and whip for the donkey, right. Sometimes you’re really nice and then sometimes you’re like *whip sound*. But it’s good and we were talking about this a while ago where I was like, imagine if I was like you and we were in this relationship together. Or imagine if you were like me and we were in this relationship together. Nothing’d get done.
Nothing would get done.
We wouldn’t clean our teeth.
We wouldn’t have got married, because, you know, we would be like… Ah I remember, I was always like, okay the documents, and then you’re like, oh yeah, no rush. You’re going to do it. And then I’m like…
Good to have it done. Anyway, yeah, I don’t know how we got on to that.
No. Me neither, but, yeah.
Yeah, it is interesting. There you go. There’s a bit of a background to our relationship.
That’s a reality… I don’t know, like, a reality call, reality check. I don’t know what to say, but like…
Yeah, a reality check.
When you’re finally living together. Because we were like, yes we got married, we’re still with your parents, and then in Canberra we were living together, and then there were other people around, but now we’re just you and me.
It’s death. I’m kidding.
So, it does feel like that’s my family. That’s it.
It does feel weird to have your own place for the first time. I’m probably pretty old for someone who normally has their own place, just because I’ve been studying for so long, and then moving to Canberra and everything is well on top of it. So, it’s definitely good. It’s pretty weird to think that, I think, a year and a month ago I was still doing my PhD or I’d just handed it in. So, I’ve managed to support myself for one year.
Amazing. I remember when you left.
Thanks to you guys. Thanks to you guys. In no small part. I wouldn’t be withoutyou who are listening to us right now.
I remember when you left the job at the restaurant, I was like, that’s amazing. ‘Cause it was it was risky, right. Like, you were like…
I was crapping myself.
I know. And Aussie English wasn’t… you know, you were still growing, but at the time, I was like, is it going to work? Like, is it… And then you were just like, you know what, I have to dedicate 100 percent of myself to this and it does… It is working. So, it is amazing.
Well, and I think, yeah, I think the nail in the coffin for me, career wise, concerning my career, was when my dad was like, do you really think you’re made to work nine to five behind a desk? And I was like, you don’t think so? And he’s like, no.
It is so good that your dad spoke to, you know, about those things, ’cause most dads…
Yeah, I think he just saw that I was very creative and I was very… I like to do my own thing, I don’t really like to adhere to other people’s routines or schedules as much. I mean, you know, obviously within reason, family, friends, whatever, but like, studying like some of the other PhD students there, I just never did. I never went in from like 9:00 in the morning until 6:00 in the afternoon or whatever and just sat at my desk reading, reading, reading, I just couldn’t handle it. I needed other things going on. I needed a change of scenery all the time to just be keeping myself sort of, you know, cognitively active. I’d feel like a change between things. But that’s a double edged blade, because I’m constantly looking for new things to entertain me and make me interested and…
But it’s good that your dad said that ’cause most dads will be like, you find a real love, you know, but…
Well, he’s probably somewhat like me where he’s thinking, ah, it’ll sort out. He’s all good. Whatever.
He’s sweet.
It’ll work out. Pete’ll find a way.
And it did.
Still growing. Still growing. But yeah, I know. Well the next biggest step for us I guess and this is the hardest thing is just that being an adult is difficult with money right. So, it’s, you know, we’ve got a few thousand dollars saved up, we have to be thinking about the baby, we have to be thinking about saving up for the visa, ’cause you have to pay well, or we have to pay, $7,500, that’s going to be fun, for this partner visa, even though we’re married, even though we have a kid on the way, we have…
It doens’t mean anything to the Government.
Exactly. That’s it. No special treatment, huh, Kel? Were you expecting a red carpet? You were like, I married this guy! Let me in!
I was really sad yesterday, because I need to take maternity leave from school, but I’m on a student visa, right. So, it’s a very complex sort of issue. You have to talk to school, and then…
And you keep hearing conflicting things from different people.
Absolutely. Yes. So, some people say, oh, it’s fine, you just get a medical certificate and you go there and they can’t deny your leave, and then I’ll go and talk to school, and they’re like, that’s not how it works.
Or you hear the opposite, right, where you hear, oh, it should be okay.
‘Should be okay’ is the worst.
And you’re like, please don’t say that. I want to know definitively, is it going to be okay or is it not going to be okay?
My English is not perfect, but it is good enough to understand that ‘should be okay’ is not a 100% ‘it is going to be okay’.
Exactly, or ‘it is not going to be okay’, in which case I can plan for what I need to do.
Being myself, I can, you know, prepare.
Kel’s had that a few times, ringing in the hospital trying to work out stuff with the baby and they’re like, ah, yeah, insurance, oh yeah, should be okay, and Kel’s like, I need to know!
I need to know. It’s just so much money and they’re just so vague, you know, about those things, and… So, yeah, with the visa… and it’s funny, ’cause I was talking about this on Instagram and just saying, I’m so upset, that’s what’s happening, I’m… sometimes I forget how connected I already am to this baby, but something like that happens, and I’m just like, I don’t want to be away. He’s going to be two months old and I don’t want to be away even for two days a week, which would be good for me to, you know, take my mind somewhere else and just be… but at the same time I’m like, he needs me 100%, and, anyway, I was talking about that and people were just like, didn’t you marry an Australian? Why are you worrying about that. I’m like, that’s not how it works. Calm down.
It’s not just, yeah, they don’t just roll out the red carpet. Everything’s champagne and, and you know…
People don’t hand you, like, permanent residancy.
You have the key to the city.
No. Man, it’s hard work.
It is.
Don’t imagine you marry someone here and things will be, oh, I’m sweet just like I can stay for… No. You better save up and you better plan, because money isn’t necessarily… is not everything, right. If you don’t have enough evidence and… I’m carryinig a baby, man, and it’s not enough. It’s a lot. It’s a lot.
I know. We just… I would’ve thought we could just do a DNA test and be like. Bam! There you go. The baby’s Australian. She can stay.
It’s probably good that they see we are a family, right. Like, we have a stable long term relationship and there’s a baby, and so, it’s not a quick sort of thing, but then at the same time, they can just refuse it.
Yep. on a whim.
So, it’s really… it is important to be careful and know I’m not a resident yet because… just because I married to him.
I want to be a Brazilian. Dammit! What do I have to do?
Spend two years in Brazil.
Two years!? Ah, it’s never going to happen. I want it to happen, but I imagine… I can’t imagine us moving there for two years, like, straight, if that’s what it… if that’s what it requires. I can imagine going there three months out of every year or something, but two years is a bit of a stretch, and to leave everything here would be difficult. I’d love to though. Don’t get sad for it. I would totally be up for it.
We would probably go, but two years is actually quite long.
But tell me about the… tell me about the temperature. How are you going? What was the temperature like today? How have you found the…?
It was hot, but it wasn’t as horrible as… How how long was it? Like, the 39 degrees, 38 degrees, that we had. The heatwave.
Maybe a week or two ago way. Yeah, it wasn’t that bad.
It was hell.
What?
It was terrible.
It was like a few days. You’re the one… This is the only thing. This is why I wanted to bring it up. So, Kel’s from the equator in Brazil. Literally, what is it like -2 on latitude, right. Longitude. Yeah, latitude.
So, you’re from the equator and you lived there for 28 years, 27 years.
28. Yeah.
And then you came here and you went to Townsville, which is in the very north of Australia. It’s like it’s getting up there. It’s in Queensland, North Queensland. But that’s not even… that’s like 12 latitude, right. So, that’s even further south and that’s hot. But what the hell, dude? You were over there, you were over there and in Townsville for for 30 years in this kind of weather and now you’ve come to Victoria and you’re like, this is too hot.
I was always complaining in Townsville. Always complaining in Brazil. The thing is that there was no one to listen to me, you know…
‘Cause they were all from there as well, and used to it, and, what’s your problem?
And, yeah, I just hate it. I feel really… Well, I don’t mind a sunny day, right. I like going out and going to the beach and things. I just don’t like feeling, I mean no one does, feeling so uncomfortable because it’s so hot. Like, and, like, last week we had two days it was extremely hot.
It was pretty funny when you walked outside and you’re like, why is the wind so hot. It’s not humid. It’s just dry heat.
That’s what… I’m not used to it, because…
But it’s good it feels good.
It feels horrible.
I love it. Man, you wait. You wait. Go to the beach in summer on a 40 degree day, get the water, get out of the water, and you cool down, well, you don’t cool down, but you know the water evaporates straight off your body, like, so fast, and there’s no humid muggy uncomfortable sticky, like, wet feeling, because the humidity is so high in the atmosphere. Down here it’ll be hot, but it’ll be dry.
I don’t know.
And so, I really like it. I really like it.
I don’t like it.
I don’t like the heat, but I prefer that. I remember going to Queensland when I was doing turtle research during my undergrad. We would go there each summer for like four weeks, seven weeks, whatever it was, and I hated the 35 degrees every God damn day.
Yeah, that’s pretty much like it is in Brazil.
Yeah, and you couldn’t… you couldn’t wear socks, you couldn’t wear pants, you couldn’t wear a jumper. It was always…
Always naked.
No, well, it was just shorts. You know, you’re wearing a boardies and you’re wearing a wife beater, like a blue singlet, we call them ‘wife beaters’, and you’d wear thongs. Because people beat their wives always wear those singlets. It’s a slang term in Australia.
I didn’t know it.
So, those are called wife beaters, because, yeah, there’s a sort of, I guess, stereotype that people who hit their wives are always in singlets holding a beer, you know,.
Oh gross!
Yeah with a mullet.
Oh, the worst!
And, but yeah, I remember that and I was like, Queensland’s amazing, but… oh, and the night time, we’d be… I’d be sleeping in tents, well, I’d be sleeping in a tent. Woudln’t be sleeping in multiple tents. But it was so hard. You’d have like a blow up lilo, you know, lilos, yeah, like an inflatable mattress and a… your pillow and a sheet, and you’d have like the cover off the top of the tent. So, you’ve just got the flyscreen that effectively that, like, see-through mistnet kind of thing, and it would still be like, oh, I have to stretch out into a starfish and just, like, don’t let any part of my body touch any other part of my body. Yeah. So, anyway, whingeing about these hot places. So…
Yeah, so I am from a really hot region in Brazil. I came to Australia to a hot terrible place. I mean, the city’s lovely, but just the temperature’s terrible. But I do complain about heat, ’cause I don’t like heat.
I think anytime he gets above 28, you’re like, this is horrible.
I just got used to it.
This is as hot as it is in hell.
I hate sweating. That’s why I got used to being always like clean and fresh.
I don’t like it either, but I don’t know, if I want to go for a swim or something, I would much prefer that it was above 28 or so, ’cause I think the temperature needs to be hot above the water, right, like, the water can be cold, but if it’s… if the air temperature is the same or close to the water temperature, there’s no way I’m getting in. Even though the relative difference between the two probably makes it more pleasant, at least initially, I don’t know. I prefer it to be really hot.
And that’s another thing. I do take living close to the beach for granted. Because it was like Brazil. Well, not that I was on the beach every week, but if I wanted I would… it would take me, what, like 15 minutes by car. If that. But…
And what would it be here, Kel? From our house, you could probably throw a rock and it’d land in the water.
But you guys just… you always say iit’s so nice to live close to the beach and everyone’s, like, looking forward to Summer. And, like, I just don’t get it. I’m just like, oh, whatever. The beach. Just like, eh, pffft! I’m just like, I don’t even swim, man!
You’re learning.
Yeah, trying to.
Just showing you that, for me, it’s like, oh, you know, okay, Summer, yay!
There’re people like that here. Yeah, I was… I went for years, I remember, when I was in high school, I think, without going to the beach, even though we lived so close.
But you liked surfing and stuff.
Yeah, when I was younger, but I think when I was like in Year 12, maybe, the final year of high school. I don’t remember. I don’t remember. I remember remembering that I hadn’t been for a long time, and being like, far out, I’m so close and yet I just don’t go down there. And it’s weird. It is one of those things, you just take it for granted, right.
Absolutely.
Even when we were running around Ocean Grove and Leopold picking up the things that we’d bought secondhand online, there were all these places that are so close to where I lived that I’ve never been in, and it’s like, what?! There’s this whole little town here that’s, you know, only 10 minutes away and I’ve never been here.
I know it’s crazy.
It’s so weird. It’s so funny how your world… like, mine expands all the way obviously to Canberra more recently and yet I know parts of Canberra are better than I know what’s right next door.
I wonder, you know, how I’ll feel when I go to Brazil to visit my family to see the city from, like…
For the first time in ages.
Yeah, so different. Crazy.
So, pregnancy wise, Kel, gives an update and then we can finish up. It’s almost been half an hour. How are you feeling? You entered the second trimester on the Monday.
Yeah, it’s a big difference nnow. I thought it was like people trying to cheer me up, but it is very different. I think… I should be more responsible, 14 weeks.
Yep. 14 weeks and two days.
Two days.
Congratulations.
And I feel good.
For the first time in three months?
I feel really good. I feel my energy’s back. I don’t feel pretty like, people say you’re hair’s going to be amazing. Your skin’s going to be glowing.
Shut up. Shut up. You’re beautiful. Shut up.
I’m just like, whatever. I feel gross, but physically, I mean, like, energy wise, I feel great. I can, you know, do things and just fine. Carry, I help you with the things that I wanted to help.
I know, now, I am always like, how much we’re trying to do or to carry? Like, if I’ve got a whole car load of stuff, I’m was like, mmm… God, I remember we tried getting a couch out of the car, and Kel’s like, I can do it. I can do it. And then, she picked it up and was like, nup! So, I had to call Dad to get him to come down from his house.
But, it’s been good. Definitely entering the second trimester, it’s been good.
So, has it sunk in yet? After we did the ultrasound and we got to see the baby for the first time, hear its heart beat, see it move. Has it really sunk in?
It… I think it comes in waves. Like, with this school issue, I mean, trying to sort it out, but still like, bit shady. I don’t know what’s going to be. But, it was like, I imagined I was getting… I would get upset just like, oh yeah, I won’t be enough, I won’t have enough time at home, but I got really… It just crashed me. I was just like, wow, I do not want to be away.
From the baby?
From the baby, for the first six months.
‘Cause that’s something I’ll never understand, the bond that you get with the baby, well, in utero, whilst it’s in you, inside of you, but also I’d say whilst your nurturing it and breastfeeding when it’s first out of you, because obviously, you know, I’ll be here and I can hold it, but you have a completely different connection to the baby, because it literally relies on you for life, right. Like, I mean I can buy powdered milk, but…
Yeah, I felt guilty. I felt like, wow, I’m not going to be here. And as if I was already the worst Mum on Earth.
Like you were neglecting it or something?
Yeah, I know. IIt probably… If it is, you know… things do happen as, you know, they were supposed to when I have more time away from school, great. But if I don’t it’s not the end of the world. You’re going to be here. We have your sister, we have your mum and your dad. So, you know…
We can all breastfeed it. Yeah, we’ll just rotate through.
No, but you can… You’re the dad, right? So, you’re the best person to stay with the baby if I’m not here. But I was really sad. It just really made me depressed and I was, like, crying and just feeling horrible. And that’s when you asked me if it has hit me and how I felt like…
You weren’t expecting that reaction.
Yes. If I’m having just a normal day, I… sometimes I don’t even think, oh yeah, I’m pregnant. But then, something like that happens, I’m like wow, that’s really strong. And I’m starting to lose my clothes and personal thiing, so dealing with my body changing, and…
You are happy the other day. She doesn’t like spending money, guys.
I don’t.
She’s so cheap. Not even… to the point where she has a one dress at the moment. She has like a nightie, which is what she currently wearing now, what she sleeps in, right. It’s kind of a small dress, right. And you wear that around the house, generally, because it obviously is very comfortable, but you have one dress that my sister gave you that is a maternity dress, right, like the stomach part of it is stretchy material. It’s one of those stripy… what would you call it a dress, a skirt?
It’s a dress dress.
I don’t know. I don’t wear it.
It’s just… It stretches.
Stretch material. That’s it. And so, the other day, I’m like Kel, come on. Wewere out for breakfast with Annika, or was it the other day?
With Annika.
My sister and I was like, oh, we walked past a shop and I was like, there’s some nice dresses here, they’re on sale, let’s get some, Kel. You know, even if we just get one, like, let’s get somethiing. She’s like, nah, screw that. Too much money. Nup!
It was $35, man. I’m like, I’m not buying that!
That’s nothing. Thatt’s 50% off. It was $70, but only $35.
I know. Like, I don’t know. If I was working, I’d probably the more, you know.
Alright, let’s spend it.
Yeah. But, because I’m not… Well, I’m contributing in different ways, but you…
You’re growing a child. That’s a job, baby. You are growing a child. You’re working harder than I am.
I know.
She’s like, pay me more!
But it jusst feels like… Again, because, I’m so, like, I’m a control freak and I’m trtying to, I feel like, okay, now we have our rent to pay and other things. So… And honestly, if I was like desperate for a dress, I’d probably buy one. But I know, it’s just a dress, right. I have other… I have one that I can use. So, it’s fine. So, you got me four dresses.
Whereas I was like…. Yeah, I went out the other day. I had to get chords. I had to get all this stuff for the podcast. And then across the road there was… I think it was Rivers, it’s a brand here in Australia. And I just saw in the front window all these dresses for sale. So, I was, oh man, are they stretchy? I asked the lady, I’m like, so my wife is up the duff, she’s pregnant, she’s in her second trimester, what here will stretch and potentially survive the entire pregnancy? And she was like oh this stuff is fine. And it was like 15 bucks each. So, I got you four of them.
They’re really cute.
That’s a Christmas present. That’s the Christmas present by the way. Yeah. Thatt’s it. Early Christmas present.
Oh, thank you. I need to find you something.
Just be you, Kel. Come on! She’s going to make me pancakes. There you go, Pete.
I’ll get you some socks.
Yeah, great. Socks. Dinosaur socks.
But, yeah thank you. It was sweet.
Kel, never gets me dresses.
No.
All right. Well, and, what are you expecting for the rest of the pregnancy? Before we finish up, what are you… like, as a reference, ’cause we can obviously come back and listen to this, and maybe you can say this, imagine that you were talking to your child who was grown up and is now 18 years old and learning Australian English, and he’s dug through all the episodes of Aussie English over the last 18 years and found this one just before he was born, six months before. What are you expecting the rest of this pregnancy, if not the rest of his early life, to be like?
I… I’m really looking forward to feeling like this ferocious love that people talk about when they talk about pregnancy and having a baby. I do love my baby, like, in a way that I feel so responsible for him, but it hasn’t really happened to me to be like, oh, head over heels by him, because it’s so new and there’s all these other things happening.
Hasn’t dawned on you?
Yeah, but I just hope the connection grows and yeah just want to…
Do you think he’s going to be a good person? What do you think is going to end up being?
Yeah, he’s going to be great.
What’s his job going to be, Kel? What do you think he’s going to…
A doctor.
What kind of doctor?
A surgeon.
It’s already decided. Wow, you just put the weight of the world on his his tiny little baby shoulders. I hope he finds this episode one day. All right. Awesome. Well I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes well. I tell you that. I tell you that. I hope you don’t feel sick. I feel amazing. I hope the second trimester easy, a piece of cake. You know. It’s just all downhill from here, right.
Cool, so next time we can talk about birth options.
Yeah, for sure.
I think it’ll be a nice topic, and water birth and caesareans, and stuff, so, yeah.
Yeah, definitely. All right, well, hopefully you guys have enjoyed this episode. It is now 10:30, so we’ve smashed out about half an hour. It’s nice try at the new equipment.
Sorry, if I was moving away and like shaking stuff.
Kel’s gettting used to it. She’s touching the table and like….
Yeah, sorry, guys.
I can also hear an echo. I’ve ordered foam that will go on the walls to stop this echo, ’cause is currently the room has a bookshelf that is empty and a table with gear in it, and that is it, and the rest is just flat walls, and so… echo! You can hear the echo.
A little bit, but…
Not the end of the world. But hopefully, you guys have liked it. Hopefully the gear sounds better than it did previously, especially, when you get really close and it gets really intimate. It gets really intimate. You know, it sounds like I’m whispering in your ear. Anyway, it’s going to take a while to get used to that and getting used to the equipment. But it’s been fun. Thanks hanging out Kel, and guys, let me know what you think of this episode and if you’d like us to do more impromptu, spare of the minute chats like this.
It was absolutely improvised. Yeah.
Yeah. We didn’t have a script. We just sat down. Kel’s going to have fun transcribing this episode. I don’t know if you guys know, but Kel’s the one I actually pay now to transcribe all these episodes for the podcast, ’cause obviously, you know, she’s at home quite often and…
And I need to improve my English as well.
It’s working really well. Yeah, you’ve been enjoying it, right. Like…
Yeah, definitely.
You miss parts and you ask me what they are, but you must learn so much from having to listen to me and you talk or anyone else.
And it’s funny to listen to myself and I know I have to stop doing that. I have to stop doing that. I have to stop saying ‘like’ so many times and, yeah, it’s really good.
But that happens. I do that all the time. I’m sure you guys will hear me when I do expression an episode saying, right, right?
No, you say ‘so’, all the time.
So also. Right? So now. Yes, I know. We all do it. Anyway, thanks for joining us guys and we will chat to you soon. Peace out. Say “Peace out”, Kel.
Piss out!
That was “Piss out”, you’ve got to say, “Peace out”.
Oh, shut up!
See you, guys!

I’m Barry, living in American River, Kangaroo Island. I trap feral cats and give them another home. I keep a record of every cat that I catch and the total’s 1438.
I’m not that fussed if people have their cats. I just have the thing for the feral cat. People think I’m a cat hater, but I’m not. We just hate the feral ones. (The) domestic cat just sits and meows and says “Meow, feed me!”, but it’s the feral ones.
The cats that I’ve removed will probably have killed millions of birds. Birdlife around the river has dramatically improved.

****

G’day,
guys!
Far out! Far out! It is a boiling day today. It is sweltering. It is steaming. It is incredibly hot. So, yesterday, it was like 34 degrees, I think, today’s 36, and I know some of you are from places around the world where that is nothing.You know, I understand that, but for me in Australia, especially, in the very, very south part of Australia, the mainland, in Victoria, 36 is getting pretty hot. Although, yeah, we’ve had some days in the past that got up to 48. I remember it being 51 degrees inside my car at one point in the past and that was just ridiculous. Anyway.
It’s been hot, and I guess, I’ve been suffering from it more because I’ve been moving house. So, as you guys may or may not know, Kel and I recently moved into our new house, in fact, we moved in two days ago, but didn’t stay there the night, because we had all our stuff at my parents’ place still, the bed stuff and everything, so we stayed here, and they had air conditioning. So, that was one thing. But then last night or yesterday, we went down there and stayed the night there and I’ve been running around like a headless chook, running around like crazy, buying second-hand furniture and all sorts of things off Gumtree and Market Place on Facebook. You may have seen the video I did on that on YouTube. So, lots of collecting stuff, filling the car up, going to the new house, unloading the car, and doing that in the heat has been a massive chore. Anyway. I won’t rabbit on too much about that, but that’s what I’ve been up to.
Today, the movie scene at the very start there, guys, was a clip from a Vice documentary called ‘Shooting Cats’. Now, Vice is a really good organisation.They do lots of these interesting sort of docos and news articles, news items online that you can find if you just search, Vice, V-I-C-E. This documentary was about the problem of cats in Australia and the hunters who tried to reduce the numbers of these feral cats. So, it’s a contentious issue. You know, the house moggy, your average house cat, vs. the feral cat, the native animal assassin inAustralia.
So, watch that doco ‘Shooting Cats’. It’s about 20 or 30 minutes long. It’s a great chance to learn about Australian culture and to introduce yourselves to a few of Australia’s more colorful characters. Strong accent warning too. And there’ll be a link to that in the transcript. Anyway.
That aside, guys, this is the Aussie English Podcast, the number one podcast for anyone learning Australian English or anyone learning English in general and trying to get from intermediate to advanced and beyond in their English abilities.
So, it’s brought to you by The Aussie English Classroom. That is my online website with the courses that I put together for these episodes and a lot of other content to help you improve pronunciation, expand your vocab, and learn these expressions, as well as meet a lot of other people who are also learningEnglish. That you can sign up for at TheAussieEnglishClassroom.com and is just one point for your first month so get in there and give it a go. If that’s not your thing and you’re just after the transcripts for these episodes and theMP3s and you want to download them so you can listen and read anywhere, anytime, go to TheAussieEnglishPodcast.com, and click sign up, and for the price of one coffee per month you will get access to all of the transcripts, all of the MP3s for all of these episodes.Anyway.
That aside, let’s get into the Aussie joke for today, guys. So, considering we had the doco at the start they’re ‘Shooting Cats’. I thought, you know what, I will find a cat joke. Okay, so here’s the joke:
Why don’t cats like online shopping? Why don’t cats like online shopping online?Why don’t they like shopping online?
They prefer a ‘cat-alogue’. They prefer a ‘cat-alogue’.
Do you get it? Cat-alogue, right? So. you can shop online via websites, but you can also shop using catalogues, right, those sort of like magazine-style things, but for just selling products. So, that’s the joke.
So, today’s expression, guys. Today’s expression is ‘to not want a bar of something’ or ‘to not want a bar of it’ or ‘to not have a bar of something’ or ‘to not have a bar of it’, right. You’ll hear this in many different ways.Sometimes it will be with the verb ‘have’ sometimes with ‘want’, sometimes it’ll be ‘of something’. Sometimes you’ll just say ‘of it’ and this expression was suggested by Shiny in the Aussie English Classroom. Good job, Shiny. So, every week we suggest the expressions we want to vote on and the winning expression becomes the one for the week. Anyway.
Let’s get into it and define the different words in this expression.
So, obviously, ‘to have’, if you have something or you don’t have something that is that you possess the thing or you do not possess the thing, right. Like, I have a t-shirt on at the moment. I have two parents. I have a car. You know, I possess those things.
‘To want’. I am sure you will all know what ‘want’ is, guys, to desire something, to feel like something. You know, at the moment, I want it to be less hot. At the moment, I want a cold drink. ‘Want’.
And the last word there, guys, ‘a bar’. Now, I don’t exactly know why this has been used in this expression and what exactly it is referring to, but I would imagine that somehow it is referring to a long rigid piece of wood metal or similar material. So, for instance, if you go to jail, the… I guess, the metal sort of fence that is in front of your cell is made up of bars, right, bars of metal, bars of metal. So, it’s usually something that’s like long and thin, right. So, you could have a chocolate bar, right, a chocolate bar. So, if you don’t want a bar of something, I guess, in this case, it just means… ‘the bar’ means that you don’t want a part of that thing, right. I’m not 100% sure.Anyway.
Let’s go through the expression definition. So, ‘to not want a bar of something’. If you don’t want a bar of something, that is that you want nothing to do with that thing or it could even be someone. So, you want… you’re not interested at all in having anything related, to do, with that thing, right. So, I don’t want to be involved. I don’t want to… I just want nothing to do with it.Okay, I don’t want a bar of it. I want nothing to do with it.
And if you don’t have a bar of something, or if you’re not going to have a bar of something, you won’t have a bar or something, you wouldn’t have a bar of something, that can mean something slightly different meaning be unable to tolerate something, to dislike something, to not accept something, or to not allow something to happen. Okay.
So, let’s go through three examples of how I would use this expression or these expressions, right, to not want a bar of something and to not have a bar of something. Alright.
So, example number one. Imagine you’re a teenager, you’re at school, and the next class that you have to go to is PE, and ‘PE’ stands for Physical Education, right, so sports. So, maybe you’re a bit of a fat kid, you know, you’re a little bit chubby, you’re overweight, and you can’t run very well, you’ve always been a bit bad at sports, you know, you’re not very athletic, you’re not much of a jock, and you get out of breath really quickly. So, you really dislike exercise overall and you think it’s pointless and an unpleasant endeavor. In order to try and get out of PE class, you tell your teacher that you’ve got a trumpet lesson, and unfortunately, it clashes with the PE class, meaning it is on at the same time as the PE class. It clashes with it. So, you have to go and you have to do this trumpet lesson and you have to give the class amiss. However, the teacher knows how much you hate PE class and also that you’re not currently learning the trumpet, so that’s a bit of a lie, it’s a fib, you’ve made up that story, okay. So, although, you don’t want to have a bar of a class, because you hate it and want to get out of it, the teacher isn’t going to have a bar of your excuses and he won’t let you skip class. So, you don’t want a bar of PE class, you want to skip it, but the teacher isn’t going to have a bar of it, of your excuses, and makes you stay and do a class instead. So, you dislike PE class and you want to avoid it, you do not want a bar of it, but the teacher won’t allow you to do that, so he’s not having a bar of it. He’s not going to put up with you trying to skip class.
Example number two. Imagine you are a gymnast or maybe an athlete, you know, someone who likes to do parkour in the street where people run around the streets and treat stairs and other structures as a sort of obstacle courses to jump through and under and over, all of that sort of stuff. So, you were out training one day with your mates, but you had a fall and busted your leg, right, you hurt your leg on the concrete when you landed. It’s nothing too serious or severe, but after seeing the doctor you are told that you need to rest up, you need to take it easy, you need to recover, you need to recuperate, and give your leg a few weeks to heal before you go back to training. Despite the advice the doctor’s given you, you’re incredibly impatient and you can’t be bothered waiting. So, you want to go out and train a few days after the accident, but your leg is so sore that you can’t do it. Your leg isn’t going to have a bar of it. Your legs not going to allow you to do it, right. It doesn’t want anything to do with training. So, you might complain and say, Ah, my damn leg! I want to train, but it’s not having a bar of it, or it doesn’t want to have a bar of it.Your leg isn’t going to allow you to train, it won’t tolerate training, it won’t have a bar of it. You’ll just have to rest up for a week or so.
So, example number three. So, let’s use some informal Aussie slang. Okay. Imagine you’re a bloke, so an Australian male, and you’re married to a ripper of a sheila, right. And ‘a ripper of something’ means ‘an awesome thing’, and ‘a sheila is ‘a woman’. So, ‘a ripper of a sheila’, ‘a great woman’. You’re a bloke married to a ripper of a sheila, and you guys have a bun in the oven, she’s up the duff, she’s expecting, she’s pregnant, right. They’re all different expressions for pregnant. And your first little nipper, your first little child, is going to be born in a few months. So, when your little bub is born, ‘bub’ as in ‘baby’, you think it’s still all good for you to nick off down the pub, so ‘go down to the pub’, every other night or so, go to barbies with your mates, sink a few tinnies a few stubbies, so these are cans and glass bottles of beer, tinnies and stubbies, and leave your wife at home who’s a recent first time mum all home alone with the bub to deal with it all herself.If she snaps though and she won’t tolerate you doing this, she won’t put up with you leaving her all alone at home having fun with your mates, she’s not going to have a bar of it, right. She doesn’t want a bar of it. She’s not going to have a bar of it. So, she won’t allow you to just leave her at home all alone with the baby, with the bub, and let you go off and have fun with your mates. Maybe she’s upset too, because she thinks you don’t want a bar of her.So, maybe she thinks you want nothing to do with her. You’re annoyed with her, right. You don’t want a bar of her. You’re not interested in her or the baby.You want nothing to do with them, you dislike them, you don’t want a bar of them. So, being a ripper of a new dad, though, you decide you’ll take it easy, you’ll stay at home, you won’t party anymore, you’ll spend some quality time with your ripper of a sheila, with your wife, your missus, and your bub for the near future and you’ll do your duty. Good man. Good man. Alright, guys.
So, hopefully now, you understand the expression ‘to not want a bar of something ‘or ‘to not want a bar of it’ meaning to want nothing to do with it, with something, with someone. And the expression ‘to not have a bar of something’ or someone or ‘to not have a bar of it’, and this means to be unable to tolerate something, to dislike something, to not accept something, to not allow something to happen.
So, as usual, let’s go through a little listen and repeat exercise, guys, where you guys can practice your English pronunciation, okay. So, concentrate on the wayI’m linking these words, the intonation I’m using, the pronunciation, and remember, if you want to get the video breakdown of this exercise and all the other exercises in all the other courses, make sure that you sign up at theAussieEnglishClassroom.com.It’s just one dollar for your first month. The link will be in the transcript, but check it out if you want to work on your spoken English. Anyway, let’s go.
To
To have
To have a
To have a bar
To have a bar of
To have a bar of it x 5
I’m not going to have a bar of it.
You’re not going to have a bar of it.
She’s not going to have a bar of it.
He’s not going to have a bar of it.
We’re not going to have a bar of it.
They’re not going to have a bar of it.
It’s not going to have a bar of it.
Good job. There is a lot of connected speech going on there, right.
‘I’m not going_to have_a bar_of_it’.
There is a lot of connected speech. Remember, to check out the video guys in theAussie English Classroom to learn all of those tricks and tips. Anyway.
Let’s go through the Aussie English fact for the day guys and then we will finish up and I will let you continue on your merry way, with your day, you know, I’ll let you keep doing whatever it is that you’re doing.
So, as we had that little documentary at the start that I was showing you that was’Shooting Cats’ talking about feral cats in Australia, I thought that we could talk a bit about feral cats in Australia and why there’s such a problem. Okay.
So,
how did cats get to Australia?
Cats first arrived obviously with the first Europeans. So, on the first ships that came to Australia, from when the First Fleet arrived and onwards there were definitely domestic cats in Australia, and it’s even possible that the earlierDutch ship wrecks around Australia released domestic cats onto the continent.
So, why were they on ships in the first place, though?
Cats were on ships, as they had been used elsewhere for millennia, for pest control, right. They had been there in order to keep rats, mice, and even cockroaches at bay, to try and control those pest species, to control their numbers.
So, once the First Fleet arrived in Australia, these cats were brought ashore and allowed to sort of roam freely in the hopes of controlling pests around the early colony. So, these free-roaming domestic cats, obviously, escaped or just simply wandered off into the bush, but they were also intentionally released around farmland and homesteads in order to control rats and mice and rabbits as well. And rabbits are another problem pest in Australia that had also been released at about the same time as a source of food that people could hunt.
So, historical records date the introduction of cats to Australia to around 1804, and that the first cats became feral around Sydney by about 1820. And by the early 1900s, concern was expressed at the pervasiveness of the cat problem. So, they were already a cat problem by the early 1900s. Okay.
So, cats became feral and they lived in the bush in Australia, but why is that a problem? You know, why are cats… why are cute, cuddly nice little cats a problem in Australia?
So, terrestrially speaking, that means in terms of talking about the land as opposed to the ocean, cats as a group, a group of mammals, are some of the most successful predators to currently be inhabiting any parts of the world, so, the world’s environments and habitats, cats are an amazing predator. They are killing machines. In whichever environment you find them, they are stealthy assassins, stealthy killing machines, and despite being relatively newcomers toAustralia, they are as successful here as anywhere else in the world, potentially even more so, because so many of the animals in Australia are naive to cats, they do not understand that cats pose a threat, right, because they haven’t evolved with cats in the local environment.
So, cats also have very few predators, namely dingoes and wedge-tailed eagles, Australia’s largest eagle, and dingoes are native dog that we have here in Australia. So, where these native Aussies don’t live, the dingoes and the wedge-tailed eagles, cats reign supreme as the local apex predator, meaning the predator at the top of the food chain. They don’t have to fear anyone eating them and they can pretty much eat anything else.
Feral cats also have a vicious and voracious appetite. They will eat pretty much anything that lands on their plate, anything that walks in front of them, right, anything that they come across. Thus, they are very bad news for any ground-nesting birds, any lizards, small mammals, frogs, insects that also live on the ground, and they have likely underpinned, that is they have caused, the population collapse and extinction of many Australian native animals, which is quite tragic. So, they are currently thought to threaten the existence of at least 35 birds, 36 mammals, 7 reptiles, and 3 amphibians. Really, really tragic.
So, today there are estimated to be about 3.3 million pet cats in Australia, that is domestic cats, living in houses, and they’re found in about 29% of Aussie homes. In comparison, so keep that number in mind, 3.3 million pets, there is between 18 and 23 million feral cats living, prowling, stealthily moving about all corners of the Australian continent except tropical rainforest. So, there’s almost one cat… there’s potentially one cat per person roaming around free in Australia killing native animals.
So, what does this mean? Well, greater than 18 million cats need to eat a lot of food and that means 7 million native animals a day, to be precise, which equates to a staggering 27 billion animals per year that these cats eat in Australia. So, obviously, it is a heavy toll on the Australian environment, well, and the animals.
Besides the obvious threat to native wildlife that this ferocious apex predator poses, they also pose a significant threat to your average household moggy, your average household cat, as they can transmit diseases, they can fight and injure your cats as well. So, they’re a big, big, big problem. This is why manyAussies, including your average Joe to your hunters as well as your conservationists and environmentalists have declared war on the feral cat and want to see them eradicated from the wild.
So, though, you may compare them to your average domestic cat, they are completely different, they are a completely different beast. They are vicious wild animals that pose a threat to the existence of numerous native species.
If you own a cat in Australia, this is why it’s so important to keep them inside at all times so as to keep them away from other feral cats or people’s pet cats next door and also to prevent them running away, getting injured, and killing native animals too, most importantly. Anyway, guys.
I hope you enjoy this episode. I hope you sort of have a bit more of a deeper understanding of Australian culture and to understand why cats are an amazing pet, but it’s so important to keep them inside. Keep them locked up. Don’t just let them roam around freely. Okay. Anyway.
I hope you have an amazing weekend, guys, and I will chat to you soon. All the best. Peace out. See you later.

AE 510: A Chat About Pregnancy in Australia with Kel & Pete

G’day, guys. Welcome to this episode of Aussie English. Today, I have a special episode for you where I sit down with my wife Kel and we talk about the first trimester of her pregnancy, what we thought it was going to be like compared to what it actually has been like up to now.

Anyway, before we get into that, I want to let you know that today’s episode is brought to you by the Native English course. Now, you may remember when I interviewed Justin on the podcast a few months ago, he has released a native English course and it is about learning real spoke in English.

So, this is aimed more at intermediate students who are aiming to push from intermediate to advanced. So, if you are interested in learning the tricks and tips for speaking English more like a native speaker, things like culturally-focussed speaking, tips on spoken contractions and pronunciation, and different kinds of subject matter for small talk, all that kind of stuff, this is an amazing course. It’s very affordable and you will save 15 percent with the coupon ‘AUSSIE‘ if you go to lingova.com. That is LINGOVA.com.

Save 15% with the coupon:

Trying to use this little selfie stick again, I remembered how good it was. Anyway, we’re about to go out and get some muffins and coffee and Kel had an idea, Kel had a pretty nifty little idea. What are you doing, Kelly? Why are you hiding? Come here ‘cause I don’t want to show you guys the room, it’s a bit dirty.

So, tell us about your idea, you wanted to do the pregnancy diary.
You wanted to do a little pregnancy diary where you can talk about it, you know, and this might not be helpful for many men out there listening,
but hopefully it gives you some good vocab and as well some a learning experience for those of you who are thinking about getting pregnant in the future

Yeah, and I think people want to see our little bump.
Little bump? What’s this Kel? Show us the bump. Is it a little?

It’s huge. Look at that. Yeah, I reckon mine’s bigger. Look at that much bigger. My baby’s way further along than yours.

You’re so competitive

Alright, so we’re going to go to Barwon Heads and get some muffins. Don’t look at the room. Don’t look at the room.

As always, we’re in front of the house walking to the car. But this time Kelly’s here. We’re not go to the gym, not today. So, where are we going Kel, Kel?

To the coffee shop. Coffee shop, coffee shop. There is an amazing place in Barwon Heads, called Starfish, right? And It is…hold on, just let me get in the car. Get in Kel!

Yes, so It’s called Starfish, it’s really good, mum found it and it has amazing muffins and even better croissants with pumpkin. Oh my god this is so good!

We’re off to Barwon Heads. We’re off to Barwon Heads. So, how you feeling today? You’ve been a bit nauseous recently. Tell us about your experience being pregnant. How’s it been? Has it been fun?

No, it’s not fun. I mean…It is nice when you realize that you have a baby in you and you think about it and you buy things, but daily sort of… the struggle is real.

The struggle is real. Like I wake up feeling sick every day. It goes on for the rest of the day, pretty much. If I’m hungry, I feel even worse, but then because I’m so nauseous, I don’t feel like eating anything and
even my favourite things like cheese or pasta like I just don’t feel like having any food

That’s the weird thing, I think because you love those foods and you were eating them like an animal before you got pregnant, but now, you just like…do you think like is it what’s putting you off them? Is it the idea of what they taste like, the smell of them? The textures, is there some specific aspect or you just don’t feel like eating that food now?

I know some women get really sick like with smells and textures, I’ve been reading about it, but for me personally, it’s just I don’t feel hungry. I feel…well, I know I have to eat and I kind of get like okay. I really like cheese or whatever, but then when I’m there looking at it it’s just like, I don’t want it. It’s just like the pizza we got the other day I had like two pieces and I was just like…

What did you order? You ordered a pizza and it was like half peri-peri Mexican or some spicy thing and then half…What was the other half?

Was chorizo or something.

Chorizo like a margarita with a bit of sausage on it or something and you ate that but then you were like this other one looks gross and I’m not eating it.

And I love chicken, that’s my favourite thing.

It would have never happened in the past.

Not at all, I would have started with this one because I like it so much

I don’t know, that’s the most weird thing that’s happening. The rest is just fine. Like I know I’m not putting putting on a lot of weight yet so, it’s fine. Not vomiting a lot. I feel really sick, but I don’t vomit.

You only vomited once. Yeah exactly. What happened then when you vomited the first time?

I think we were in the car, right? Normally without being pregnant I get

Motion sickness. Yeah, you don’t do very well in cars at least when you’re not…when you weren’t pregnant, it would be like if we were driving around, really bad corners, like if you go down the Great Ocean Road, it tends to be pretty horrible.

Yeah

Yeah, So, if you’re going down the Great Ocean Road it tends to be… that’s when I would get motion sick if we were going down fast and you’re constantly like…

But for me it’s so bad, I can’t even use my phone in the car.

Normally, normally.

We were coming back from your grandparents’ place in Melbourne, yeah, which is about a two hour drive I just couldn’t handle it anymore and I just puked.

We were so close!

We were one turn, one turn away from our house and dad was driving and Kel’s like give me the bag!

And we’re like literally a minute away from getting home and you puked in the car. Yeah in front of my dad.

And then he was turning the fan on.

Aircon up. Aircon up. It’s all good, it’s not easy. I can’t imagine, you know, the hormone changes and feeling nauseous all the time. That would, that would get to me. I think that was frustrating.

Yeah at the end of the day you’re just so tired of feeling so sick. Yeah, and I don’t know if all the women experienced the same but I have every day when it’s kind of like getting dark around like six seven I get quite
unsettled like I’m just uncomfortable. I don’t know if it has something to do with the hormones or if it’s just because I’m tired of feeling so sick.

Yeah

But I just get really like I can’t do anything like I don’t if…in bed, I’m uncomfortable, if I get up to do something else, I’m uncomfortable.

Yeah, you’d be finding it really hard to get to sleep, right? Recently and it’s not the stereotype is that it’s morning sickness which is what I assumed before you got pregnant like oh, yeah, you’ll be, you know, sick in the morning and then the rest of the day you’ll be fine, but it’s more like all-day sickness.

All day sickness and I find it really hard to sleep.

And which week did this begin at?

Probably…Yeah, this was six weeks, I mean I’m 8 now, but six weeks that’s when it hit me.

yeah, and fortunately though it’s only meant to last for five to six weeks.

Usually yes, usually yes, that’s what everyone’s telling me.

Most women have been saying don’t worry after twelve weeks you’ll feel fine again and you’ll feel like superwoman!

but then we watched the…I don’t know if it’s a documentary, but more or less a documentary on birth, childbirth yesterday and the girl that was on there, the Indian one, was like I felt nauseous every day for eight months. So, I can’t imagine that feeling of being sick for eight months and then you know, it must feel pretty good once you’ve finished
Must be very good after you finish. Yeah, and you’re like oh, I don’t feel nauseous anymore.

But everyone is telling us that you know after those first weeks. Something, you know, happens and you just have great, even your mom saying that you feel like you can do anything.

So, I’m really looking forward to feeling like that because right now is just really bad. So, how do you think it’s changed your life? Your day-to-day routine at the moment if you weren’t pregnant?

What would you be doing that you currently can’t do?

I would probably be having a lot of soft cheese

No, but honestly. It’s hard because I know there is something happening, happening inside me, but you don’t feel much different like physically speaking. Yeah, you know, you feel sick and you feel you know, moody or something happens and you just remember oh, yeah, I’m pregnant, but you look at yourself in the mirror and you just like I’m the same and you don’t realize how much you’re going to change, your personality and stuff. So, it’s not… I’m still digesting the whole thing.

Like hey, I’m pregnant, but I do think…I haven’t eaten for the whole day, for example and I know like I would definitely go to bed without having anything, but I’m like, you know, I have to eat.

I think that’s one of the most difficult things, right? Is that you’re constantly don’t… you’re constantly not feeling like food at the moment but you know that you need to eat because of the baby and to give it nutrition and what it needs.

So, yesterday you you were like barbecuing stuff. I didn’t want to have anything, but I know I don’t usually have meat because well, we’ve been eating meat a lot in the last three weeks but I just don’t feel like having anything, but I was like I have to, I have to have some substantial. That’s probably… that’s the main…

it’s the weirdest thing with Kel having to force her to eat food usually you’re pretty good with food and you’re pretty like…

Yeah

Apart from that, you just, you know, I keep thinking, buying things like I go out and not see the baby stuff and I want to buy it’s just you get used to, I’m getting used to understanding, I guess. Yeah have a baby that’s going to be born in like seven months.

Has it hit you yet? Do you think? I mean you keep asking me like, do you feel like a dad yet? Or like it’s going to happen is it has it hit you, Pete and to be honest it hasn’t because obviously the only, the only thing that I noticed is that you’re feeling a bit sick, right? That’s the only change for me and it’s an external thing for me. I don’t have this internal change in hormones and feelings and emotion and everything like that that you’re going through, but has it properly hit you yet that you will have this parasite, baby crying and keeping you awake and, you know, eventually leading leading you to be an amazing parent in seven months from now.
Not really, maybe I’m just not conscious about it. Like if I wasn’t pregnant I would be like let’s travel, let’s do, you know, other things but it’s really fine for me to be like I can’t do that, I can’t just, you know, decide I can’t just go away and do other things because very soon I’ll be, I’ll have a baby and I have to take care of him or her, but I think it’s a very subtle change.

You’ll get used to it

And I’m sure when I have a big belly and the baby’s moving I’ll feel more like a parent, but now…At the same time, I’m reading a lot of a lot of things about parenting so I’m trying to get, you know…

Up your skills

Yeah, because that scares me more than the pregnancy I think being a parent and educating someone kind of scares me.

We are almost here I just have to do a U-ey and park behind this car.

How’s it going? Can I grab a large cappuccino? Takeaway and what about you, Kel?

A small hot chocolate and I might grab… What do you reckon? One of these muffins, Kel? I might grab the dark choc berry one for me, please man.

So good. Is it good? These muffins rule. Look at that chocolate! Tasty? And the cappuccino looking forward to this.

All right now we’re off to the beach we’ll see if we can find somewhere nice to sit down and continue this chat. Yeah, I’m all coffeed out. Oh, too much coffee today, I think.

How many?

Oh, like ten. I’m probably… I had to have one decaf as well. So, there you go, three or two and a half, two and a half. Anyway, we’re in Bowen heads and we’re goinig to head down to this…There’s a little pier. Hopefully, there’s no one on it. Guess we’ll see.

So, how’s it been? What did you expect before getting pregnant, Kel? What were the expectations before you got done? Before you got up the duff?

I don’t know, I didn’t really have any sort of expectations. I thought, I really thought the whole thing about I’m so sick it was an overreaction little bit, but I can see it’s not. There are things that not many people talk about like because they’re embarrassing and you know, you know just feel like Is it actually happening? Like I feel bloated all the time. Sometimes like today I woke up was like Am I showing I have such a big bump! Am I showing or am I bloated? It wasn’t a baby, it was something else.

You go to the toilet and then you get up and you’re like damn it!

You burp a lot, like I’m always…

And she never burps, I burp all the time I must be incredibly pregnant.

It I hate it. It’s just horrible.

You don’t like burping or you don’t like being pregnant?

You’re a bit gassy.

Me?

No, me.

I am, anyway. You are, anyway, but I’m not used to it.

And you have to pee every like 30 minutes to an hour.

That’s what make me more anxious out of everything.

You have to always think where’s the toilet? Where’s the toilet?

I wake up four, like three or four times at night and it’s quite cold here so wake up, it’s cold.

It’s not really cold. It’s just she thinks it’s cold

It is cold and you have to go to the bathroom and you know that the time I go back to bed I’m already like I need to pee again. So, I thought about getting, don’t know what you call it in English, Brazilians will know ‘penico’. Just leave the ‘penico’…

Some kind of small bucket or receptacle or something that you can pee in and that’s near your bed that they would have used before toilets. People use pans. I think you would call it. They use them in the hospital.
Wee can get one of those for you if you want, you got your bucket.

No, the bucket is for vomit.

We need to get a mattress that we can put a hole in and then just hold it over the toilet and you can just sleep on the mattress right there, right? and the toilets right underneath you.

Like I had to get new bras because the ones I had were quite uncomfortable.

Yeah, It was like, we found out one day the next day. I was like, boom!

I always thought that it was like, you know, towards the end that the breasts get bigger. They get filled with milk or whatever that the baby needs and that happens later on in pregnancy, but obviously the hormones kick in and there’s some sort of you know changes occurring in your breasts. But I was just like yeah, I didn’t expect that. But I like it.
I like it, to be honest, that’s a good part of pregnancy. Forgive me, forgive me.

He was like, can you just press pause?

But I’m only eight weeks so I don’t know how big…

There’s no upper limit

I think those are the most, you know, annoying things mmm, it’s really it’s really nice. I don’t know, if you think about it and you imagine you have to educate this person and try your best and love and I was really scared of not being able to love.

Yeah, what were you nervous about it? What were you scared about it? Cause you had quite a lot of preconceptions before getting pregnant that you were sort of like am I going to be a good mum?

Yeah. Well the good mum thing. It’s always in my mind. Like am… I am I able to do a good job? and there’s no recipe, right? You just, you try your best.

You have to wing it. Yeah suck it and see.

Yeah, but what I am doing is I’m reading as much as I can about parenting and trying to get…Trying to understand what’s the best for with regards to education and stuff but with the love issue because you’re single and that’s the amount of love I’m capable of giving.

I get the limit at the moment. I get everything.

You get everything and it’s an easy because everyone’s like your baby’s born and you…There’s no way you can love someone more than you love your baby and that scares me because how vulnerable is that? Like this little person can literally destroy my life if something happens. I’ll be like that’s my whole heart going away with this little kid, but at the same time it’s amazing to think that you are able to love someone like that and you can do anything.

Well, that’s what I kept saying to you the whole time. You kept saying how am I ever going to love someone as much as I see everyone loving their children? And I said, I think it’s one It’s naturally going to occur and two
I think it’s the kind of thing that’s going to develop as you get through your pregnancy. You have this thing inside you that you’re developing a bond with and then when it’s born it’s just going to…

With your niece, for example. Yeah, I really love her. Like I spent time with her. She’s the cutest baby ever and I feel connected and I’m like
How can I think I will not love my baby?

That’s what I said

I’m like you already like my niece so much to imagine what you’re gonna feel for your own child. So, that was a big thing that you were worried about to begin with I think.

But yeah, it’s much better now, but it was before getting pregnant. I was like scared of you know, not being able to care and to love but you know nature, nature works fine, and you just do it.

Exactly. And so, what about parenting, you’ve been learning a lot about that recently. What are the do’s and don’ts that you think you sort of come across?

That’s hard because there’s no, as I said, there’s no recipe, right?

There’s no right answer.

Yes

You don’t… you shouldn’t expect – oh, I will apply those rules and tips and my baby will be the best child, you know, on Earth. Every child is different.

Yes. It’s a difficult thing though because there are definitely answers that are better than other answers, right? and options that are better than other options, but there’s no definitive guide to do this four times a day, you know, and you’ll have a good kid.

No

And that’s the difficult part for me – I want to do the best I can but I know my own limitations. And I also know that you can only control so much when you have the child. They they’re going to have their own personality that’s sort of irrespective of what you set up or do before that?

Yeah, and I’m really into the whole like peaceful parenting stuff because that’s a very different way like from my experience. I wasn’t raised with…

Peacefully.

And I really think it works. Like I really think that’s…that’s the, you know, the best advice you can get

Do you want to talk about what is peaceful parenting exactly?

So, peaceful parents is all about not…understanding, first of all, understanding your child and respecting their personality, like you wouldn’t force your friend or your partner to do something they don’t want to do because it hurts and it feels horrible, so the whole respect towards children, that’s what I like and it’s all about avoiding punishment. It’s not that you’re not going to teach them, you know, boundaries limit and exactly but you do it in a different way because every time they misbehave. It’s a chance for you to teach them something as opposed to it’s a chance for you to punish them.

I think it’s a lot more based around conversations and discussions why they can’t have something, why they can’t do something, why something they did was wrong as opposed to go to your room because I said so or you can’t do this because I don’t want you to, I think from my point of view that wouldn’t work on me now so why would it work on a kid, right?

Like if someone tells you you can’t have this and you’d be like well, I feel like I can so why can’t I and the person just says because I said so you’d be like well, that doesn’t really you know sit well with me you need to tell me more so I think you need to sort of treat kids like that as well. Like they’re more like adults. Explain to them why you’re deciding certain things.

You also need to understand the the child’s brain is not developed. Yeah, so you can’t expect them to be mature and you know, responsive when you know, you lose your temper sometimes and you know, it’s hard I struggle with, you know, understanding my emotions sometimes and I get quite overwhelmed from you know, every now and then but imagine a child. It’s just really hard for them to understand what’s happening. Like they don’t, they don’t know any better. They’re just children.

Yeah, and but I think that’s the important part. They are not going to learn without you.

And you need to accept that you can’t expect more. When… even though you want your child to be the most well-behaved child in the room. You can’t expect them to be more mature then that they actually are for their age, you know? And I really like that because I see, I mean, not being judgemental here, but I see a lot of people and I used to do the same with my sister or my you know, the kids I was working with in Townsville, you can’t you get so frustrated. Sometimes you want them to do something and you forget like, if they are misbehaving, it’s probably because they are they are after something else. Is it attention? Are they hungry? like there’s always something

And with the documentaries we’ve been watching quite often the kids that misbehave the most so the ones who don’t have a connection with their parents and they’re just looking for some kind of you know, I guess response or some kind of attention from their parents and that’s why they act out or they act up

And something that I it really resonates with me is, at least in Brazil, I think and again I’m speaking from my own experience. The whole thing with my family was like, oh don’t do that the child will be spoiled. You’re hugging too much, you’re doing too much attention. It’s just for me that doesn’t make any sense because I can’t imagine how scary the world is. You’re like a little child the only thing you know, that is safe it’s your, it’s your mom and your dad and you don’t give them attention, you let them cry for hours without going there.

There’s limits, right? You have to be not overbearing. You can’t do overbearing mother that protects them from everything. You have to… you have to let them expose themselves to the world and risk being hurt or in danger, but at the same time be there for them

You need to be there all the time and you need to be as, you know, affectionate and caring and there’s no limit for that. That’s one thing that if you get if you want to get something from like peaceful parenting and stuff just be there and give as much love as you can like, there’s no limit, you’re feel free to give as much love as you can because that’s that’s what makes them safe and they connect with you and they trust you and that’s their world like that you are the only thing they have when they’re little at least. It’s been good to learn about it.

That’s where we’re at currently. So, who knows if that’s what it’ll actually be like later on during the pregnancy or when the baby is actually born, but the sun’s getting in my eyes. Maybe we should, we should finish up there, guys. Hope you enjoyed it, but yeah Kel thought this would be a fun idea to sort of sit down and do a pregnancy diary kind of thing where we can chat about what’s happening with Kel and what we’re planning and and things were learning and stuff just to talk about different things in English. So, hopefully you enjoy it all the things in the next video some things yeah, let’s do it. Anyway. Thanks for joining us, guys! Chat soon!

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Good job, guys. Well, I hope you enjoyed that episode today. If you guys planning on having a child Down Under, or maybe you’re currently in the process of having a child, or maybe you’ve already had one, I hope that episode was helpful and gave you lots of vocabulary and expressions, things that you can use when talking about these topics. That’s the whole point. That’s why I like sharing this kind of information, even though it’s a bit of my private life and Kel’s private life, I feel like it’s helpful for you guys, so I hope you liked it.

Just remember too, guys, that today’s episode was brought to you by the Native English course. Go to lingova.com that is LINGOVA.com and sign up with the coupon ‘AUSSIE‘ to save 15 percent and get your English from intermediate to advanced if you are an intermediate English learner.

AE 509: Buying Second-Hand Stuff Online in Australia

What’s going on, guys? Welcome to this episode of Aussie English.

I’m a bit sick today so forgive the voice, but I recorded this video the other day and I decided to put it up on the podcast as well, and it’s a video where I talk about buying second-hand stuff in Australia, so which websites to use, okay?

So, I’m going to put that on the podcast ‘cause I think it’s going to help a lot of you guys. Make sure, though, that you check out video on YouTube if you want to see a screen capture of me using these websites.

Anyway, let’s get into it, guys, and I hope you enjoy it.

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What is going on, guys? Welcome to this video! Today I want to talk to you about buying stuff on the line, ok? Specifically, on Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace. Now, there is a lot of good stuff on here, second hand that’s good quality. Quite often you can buy and at a lower price, you can haggle with people, you can barter obviously on here as well, you can trade things even and you can even find things for free so, this is something that I’ve been using quite a lot in the last week trying to find furniture, trying to find cutlery, glasses, all kinds of stuff that I’ll need for the new house that Kel and I are moving into. So, that’s why I thought I would make this video of you, guys, to show you how I do that to hopefully give you some expressions or phrases that you can use too when bartering with people, bartering, when trading with people, trading, when haggling, that’s the word I was looking for, when haggling with people, right? When arguing or talking or discussing the price for something they’re selling. And I tell you what, never start at the price that they’re asking, ok? You’re not going to lose.

Alright, so, the first one he guys is Gumtree. Now, I love this website. I absolutely love this website. It is amazing, I’ve sold things on Gumtree and I have bought a lot of things on Gumtree including equipment for the podcasts and for a lot of other stuff.

So, I think Gumtree is amazing, gumtree.com.au, is the web site. I’m already here. What do you do? So you are obviously looking for something in the case that you’re trying to buy something, try to search for something that you would like to get. So, there is I’m looking for in this search space here. You can alternatively open up the window down the side here and select category, you know, cars and vehicles, you can find cars here, clothing, jewellery, community, electronics and computer Home and Garden jobs. People have jobs on here, miscellaneous goods, pets, Real Estate services for hire, sport and fitness and even tickets so, I’ve been looking a lot in the home and garden, will open that one up, ok. Hopefully it’s going to open up, oh no, I’ve selected it. And then you will type in the thing year after so, you can obviously see here that there are a lot of options that you can select from. Maybe you will go with dining tables, ok?

You’ll also see it on the side here the area that I want to search, obviously, it’s not so helpful if I’m looking for a dining room table and it is in Cairns, 2.500 kilometres North of where I currently am so, it depends on the object you want. Obviously, if it can be sent by mail, you can buy it on here. We’ll talk a bit about how I would do it if from getting it by mail, but for now let’s imagine that we are looking locally, so, near Geelong.

I find the place, all of these and the same, really. Geelong you can do it by postcode so, close that, and then you can select how many kilometres around that area you want to expand the search results so, maybe I want to go 50 kilometres around Geelong, ok? Or round the postcode 3 2 2 0. So, I hit search and let’s see what comes up. Here we go. Alright so, we had like one thousand tables for sale. 1000 ads of tables that are in the Geelong area so, you can obviously just keep scrolling through. They are in no particular order, but you can order them so, you can go up here sort by most recent, best match, cheapest, most expensive, nearest to me, ok? So nearest to me should be closest to the search location that you’ve put in there, so Geelong. Let’s just do cheapest. So, to start with the cheapest and it will go down all the way to the most expensive and usually when you do that. So here it’s got ads that have been sponsored I think. Cheapest. It’ll start with all the free stuff, right? So you’ve got free dining table and chairs, table dining room desk or side table free, six seat dining table free, tables and chairs free. So, all of this stuff is free and you will see there’s there’s a few here for a dollar, a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars, ten dollars, okay?

So, you get the idea of sorting it that way. On the side here you’ll see the location. So, if we go to the top here, where was it? Here, the very first one is in Point Cook, 43 kilometres on the other side of Geelong, Moonee Valley, Geelong city, that’s nearby, Werribee that’s a bit of a drive. Maidstone that’s a bit of a drive so, you’ll see what I mean. They give you a location you can sort of get an idea in your head of where the place is, but when it’s just let’s just click on one, ok? Dining room table. Eight to 12 seats so, you’ll see up the side here the name of the person, how long they’ve been on Gumtree, you can send them a message, you’ll see photos here, you can make them an offer and they’ll also have their phone number here quite often so, you could call them and ask or send them a text and ask about the product and if it’s still up maybe I want to offer them a certain amount of money or less than what they’re selling it for, although this one is free so, I can’t really offer them negative 5 dollars, you know pay me to take it away!

Down the side here you’ll see the location, which you can click on and it’ll show you where that it’s so, that you can obviously know where you have to go, if you gonna pick it up and there’ll be a description down here too. Quite often they’re pretty short. So, in excellent condition, you could have… you could have it as eight seater or 12 so, you could have eight seats or 12 seats and it looks like that is literally it, just this table. Ok? So, Sobar is obviously selling this or well, asking for it to be picked up, it’s free. You can open up send message and there’ll be an automatic message here, which is hi, whoever the person is, I’m interested in whatever the ad is. Is it still available? And if so, when and where can I pick it up? Cheers. You can send a copy of this to yourself and then you can hit send here and the person will get the message and quite often they’re pretty quick if the thing hasn’t been sold or picked up, quite often they’ll e-mail you back relatively fast.

Also, if for example you are trying to buy something as opposed to getting something for free so, imagine I’m looking at this dining room table, which is they want 10 bucks for it. This one has more images so, I can get a better look at it. There it is, but here is the priceand I can type in whatever I want. So, maybe I want to offer them five bucks. You’d then go go and it will send them that offer. Usually they’ll get an e-mail or they will get an e-mail and usually they’ll get back to you relatively quickly with yes/no blah blah blah. You know, whether they’re up for that price or not.

So, I wanted to give you a few phrases for what I would say. In fact, I might do that after we’ve checked out Facebook Marketplace so, let’s do the same here. Alright. Imagine you are looking for tables on Facebook Marketplace. So, all you need to do is go to Facebook, go to the search here and type in Facebook Marketplace or marketplace and then this will come up, this section on Facebook so you can sell stuff on here you can buy stuff on here. You can do a lot of other things, obviously, organizing it by price. You can search locations, you can do within a certain area around that location, just like Gumtree, it’s really good and you can also go through categories so, maybe I’m going home and garden and this should have everything related so what have you got it, tools, furniture, garden, appliances, household, everything related to those things and hopefully, hopefully it loads up. So, you hit that and up will come all of the different things that are being sold under that category.

So, again you can just see the free things if you’re interested in that by clicking only show free listings here and there show you all the stuff that people are getting ready for free. So, you obviously have to go and pick these things up at least what I’ve searched here because it probably won’t fit in the mail. So, if though I want to say such a price range of $140 to 200 bucks and check that, uncheck that, $140 – $200 buck, enter, and there we go. All the things for that price so, again you can click on it there should be all the relevant information there for you. If I click on the ad you’ll be able to, I guess, contact them so you can ask for details here you’ve got the person who’s selling it. And that is about it.

Some really good phrases to use. Some really good phrases to use, though, guys. Ok, so typically I don’t offer people the amount that they’re asking for to begin with as a rule. If they aren’t going to negotiate on the price they will generally say I’m sorry, but it’s this amount. Ok? Usually, though, most people have a starting price that they have begun with, especially with second hand goods, and you can get them down quite a bit quite often depends on the thing. But this is the kind of thing I would say ok, so usually I will go to ask for details and I’ll write a message saying something enthusiastic, something showing that I really like it. I really want that thing that they’re selling, but I mean I’m willing to pay this amount. So, I would say for instance for this table ”I absolutely love the coffee table. Is it still available? And then I’d say phrases like ‘How about $100 bucks?’ So they’re asking $150 here. How about $100? How does $100 dollars sound? So, how about $100 bucks? How does $100 dollars sound? Could you do it for a hundred dollars? Could you do it for $100 dollars? What would you say to one hundred dollars? What would you say to a hundred dollars?

So, those are some pretty good phrases that you can do it to at least get things started. You’re then get a reply usually, they’ll say if it’s been sold or not or they’ll say look I can’t really do it for that price. Maybe they’ll say it’s non-negotiable. It’s $150 bucks. Take it or leave it. They might say take it or leave it as in accept it or decline it. You can have it for that amount or you can just go away or they might offer you something above that amount so, they may say look I can do $130 bucks or they might say How about $130 bucks? Or could you meet me at $130 dollars? As in 150 is here, that’s their starting price, hundred bucks is here and you offered that and they want you to meet them in the middle at a hundred thirty dollars, ok? That’s a common one as well. The last option is that they will just accept it and they will say alright we got a deal and then you’ll have to organize either picking the thing up so, you’ll get an address from them or a phone number from them and usually a time when it’s available for you to go around and get the thing and I guess, generally, I would say pay for it in cash. So, pick the thing up and pay for it either in cash, give the person cash or transfer the money once you’ve looked at the thing and you see that it is what you want. Ok? That’s what I would do with things that I’m picking up, don’t pay for it before you go and see it, make sure it’s something that you want and then pay for it when you put it into your car or maybe give them the money beforehand and then put it in your car and go home. Everyone’s happy, right?

Now, If I’m doing this with things that are getting sent to me in the mail you do have to be careful because you can… the option is that you send all the money to someone you’ve never met and you hope they send you the item, but I’ll tell you about two things that I’ve done recently. Ok, first is that I have done that in the past when I’ve had the person’s Facebook, their name, their phone number and even their address that I’ve just sent them all the money I’ve taken that responsibility on myself given them the benefit of the doubt and hope that they send the goods and the thing that I did that with for example was on Gumtree when I bought my 7D Mark II, the camera that I have, Ok? And that was about eight hundred fifty dollars. So, I actually gave them the lot, I sent them everything, which thinking about it now probably wasn’t the best ideas, but the person was trustworthy and they sent the camera and I got it. They will usually go to the post office. They will take a photo of the thing and they will send that to you as proof that they have sent the item.

I don’t recommend this. It’s just what I’ve done in the past. If I really want to save a lot of money and I can find the thing, but it’s not within driving range. So, that camera for example came from Perth, which is on the other side of Australia and there was no way I could drive there. So, that’s what I would do. The other story here was that I bought headphones recently and I bought something else recently for the podcast as well, but what I did was I gave them half the money to begin with. I then asked for a photo of them in the post office sending the parcel and only after I had seen that did I send them the rest of the money and I also got a name a phone number and often their Facebook or some other kind of address, right? So, again, I don’t recommend that. Obviously, if you can find something close by that you can go and see physically, that’s a lot safer. You won’t have the risk of having money taken from you and not receiving the goods that you want. But that’s kind of the trade off if you find a good deal and it is not within driving distance and you can’t get there, it’s going to cost too much to get there. That’s the sort of way of doing it. That’s sort of way of doing it and being as safe as possible, right? So, you kind of have to decide whether or not you feel like you can do it whether the situation seems good, whether you’re comfortable doing it. But that’s just one option. Ok?

Anyway, those phrases I hope they will help. I really recommend, though, bartering or at least I really recommend haggling, though, because you’ll save quite a bit of money I think for instance the camera I saved I got half price and it was nearly new. So, I almost saved $1.200 dollars instead of buying it new. The headphones I got for probably $100 less than when they were new. And again each time I save probably up to 50 bucks, 50 dollars.

Another thing you can do when haggling is offer them low if you’re going to have the things sent to you and then go back to their price and ask them to include postage. So, imagine they’re sending something or they’re selling something for $150 dollars and you offer them $100 dollars and then they say look I really want $150 bucks. You might say ok, I’m willing to pay a hundred fifty dollars, but can you include postage? Meaning can they pay for the postage, ok? And quite often when you have that kind of discussion they’ll be like alright I’ll do that. You know, I haven’t had too many people tell me just a flat out no. So, I hope that helps, guys, don’t forget those kinds of phrases like ‘can you do it for $50 bucks? How about 50 bucks? What do you say to $50 bucks? or is $50 bucks okay?” Those are some really good phrases that you can use there when starting that haggling negotiation over price and then often you’ll hear things back like ”I’m sorry, I won’t budge. I won’t budge on the price” or I’m sorry only go as low as..” certain amount or I can only do this amount or they may even just say yes, you’ve got a deal. When are you going to come and pick it up? Ok? So, anyway, I hope this video helps guys, make sure that you stay safe. Don’t put yourself in any kind of risk that you’re not comfortable with doing and just, yeah, I hope you get some good deals on Facebook Marketplace and Gumtree. Good luck!

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IELTs – Lesson 2: Family

Pete: Alright, so welcome to this episode of Aussie English, guys! This is the first of many episodes, hopefully, to help you guys with IELTS. So, we’re going to hopefully use a lot of different vocabulary, a lot of different expressions and talk about our families in this episode. So, there’s going to be this free video and podcast episode that will go up obviously on the podcast and on YouTube, but then there will also be a breakdown of the different expressions, collocations the more advanced English used in this episode for anyone in the Aussie English classroom. So, remember, guys, you can sign up down below here click on theenglishclassroom.com, go and check it out.

Kel: Before you get into it. So, let’s just get through what the speaking test in on IELTS. So, the speaking test has three parts and the first one they’re going to ask you…. So, you have an examiner in front of you, just talking to you normally as we’re doing now and the first thing they’re going to ask you is to introduce yourself. So, you might have to explain what are you doing in Australia? Where are you from? Things like that, just a small talk and it’s not is no big deal like that’s a normal conversational have with your friends, for example. The second part is about a specific topic like family and family things like we’re going to do today so, they might ask you about I don’t know, a holiday that you really enjoyed with your family, who you love the most in your family, things like that. And the third part is about the same topic but they’re going to ask further questions. For example, if the topic is family, they might ask you to explain how families are structured in your country, for example, or If you’re from a very traditional family or not so just further questions about the same topic and they will be judging your vocabulary, your pronunciation, your fluency and your grammatical range. So just talk as much as you can, show they you have vocabulary, that you know how to use different sentences, different verbs and synonyms and yeah that’s pretty much what I would do…

Pete: So, be as descriptive as possible and go into as much detail as possible and talk for as long as possible. If they say to you who is in your family? Don’t just say me, my dad and my mom.

Kel: And another thing, be relaxed. What happened to me was I was really confident for my test but I didn’t talk as much as I know I could. And you know, at the end I got really nervous because I knew that I would…I can do better, I can do better, but I was just like okay… my mark wasn’t bad, but I know that next maybe next time I’ll do much better because they just want you to talk and communicate as much as you can.

Pete: Exactly. So, do you want to get into it just by before we go through any of this, talking about your family. So, you know, imagine when you’re in one of these ILETS exams and I say Can you introduce yourself and can you tell me about your family?

Kel: Okay so I’m Raquel. I’m from Brazil. Where families are very important I think that’s a similar thing to Australia, right?

Pete: It’s a similar thing everywhere, right?

Kel: I don’t know…but we do have this…. Families are really, really important and most families are quite traditional so, you have the nuclear family, your dad, your, siblings and you also have your extended family very close to you. So, in my case I was living with my grandmother, my aunts and uncles as well as my mum and my sister. My parents got divorced when I was… around six so there was a bit, you know, unusual, different from most families in Brazil. But, yeah, I have a really big family and we don’t we are not in contact with every single person, obviously, but we are a big family. Both sides like, my mum’s family is quite extensive and my Dad’s family is really, really big as well. It’s impossible for me to remember every single person to talk about them because there’s just too many people. And yeah that’s pretty much…

Pete: I’m sure I can relate to that with regards to big families. So, who are you closest to in your family?

Pete: With your father. So, you guys, do you wanna describe that? Like you’ve got two siblings from the same parents…

Kel: And two are the ones from my father’s second marriage., Is it correct?

Pete: Yeah exactly, exactly. And they are half siblings.

Kel: Yeah, half siblings.

Pete: So, you have half sister and half brother.

Kel: Yes. I’m closest to my sister, I would say and also my mum like because we were living together, when my parents got divorced I stayed with my mum so I can say okay we’re kind of close, but to be honest I would just ,you know, mention my sister. She is…. we are very different from each other like she is so much more organized, I’m always talking about her, but yeah my sister is my best friend and my other siblings are really close to me as well. Like my… Gabriella she’s like 19 so, she’s you know starting her life as a young adult, and I kinda feel like Oh my Gosh! So worried so concerned about her.

Pete: Awesome. And what about your grandparents on either side of your family? Did you have a close relationship with your grandparents when growing up?

Kel: It’s funny, because I didn’t meet my father’s dad…. My mum’s dad, I met my father’s dad, my grandpa, but he died a few years a go and and we were not that close anyway, like he was a bit, you know, quiet and he wouldn’t talk much with the kids. So, we didn’t develop any relationship.

Pete: You didn’t have a close relationship.

Kel: Yes, but I didn’t meet my mum’s father, but I’m really, really close to my grandmother. y grandmothers, they’re just very different women, but they are still really, really good people. My mum’s mother is… she raised me, when I think about my upbringing, everything, my values I got from her. She’s a very strict woman, very traditional, quite religious, Catholic. Yeah. So yeah but, you know, that’s her generation and my other grandmother she is quite religious as well, but she’s not as emotional as the other one, like she’s a great reporter who makes sure you eaten, you have everything you need, but she’s not warm and like really affectionate. They’re very different, very different personalities. What about your grandparents, we visited them…

Pete: Well, I can talk about my family, we can switch the roles now where you can be the one asking me questions and I can answer them.

Kel: So yeah, like how does it feel to have your grandparents in their 90s, right? And we visited them the other day and it was mind blowing, just like… they were asking about the internet and things like that, it just got us, both of us, really thinking about how life goes so quickly and I don’t have this sort of relationship with my grandparents. So how is it for you?

Pete: It’s pretty good, I guess before we get into that, though, I can give you a sort of summary of my entire life. So, I grew up with my one sister, I have a full sister. My parents have been married the entire time, obviously, and so I was born in Fern Tree Gully on the other side of Melbourne here, in Victoria in Australia, and grew up there for nine years, first nine years of my life and then we moved down here to where we are now, which is Ocean Grove about two hours away from where I grew up in Fern Tree Gully and so yeah I have my parents, they were both really loving, my dad was pretty… he was probably the stricter of the two. So Mum was always really loving and caring and would let me get away with murder and she would let me do whatever I wanted whereas dad was a lot stricter and… he would let you, you know…he would have you on a tight leash, I think is a good way of explaining it where you could do what you wante, but within limits and within control. And so I think it was a pretty fun and enjoyable upbringing for sure, especially we were talking the other day about living in Ocean Grove and what it was like and how it differed between how your upbringing Brazil and mine here and we used to have free roam of the streets. When I was probably…. maybe 12 years old my parents would let me go out by myself and hang out with my friends in the street and Kel was like How did you know when to come home?

Kel: That’s so different from me. I couldn’t do that. Even…. like being a teenager, I remember I would go to school, come back home and that was it, like there was no okay you’re allowed to go out for a party or something. Not just because it might be dangerous, but like my family was really strict. We didn’t have the freedom he had for example.

Pete: No boys, no drugs, no alcohol, no cigarettes, no. Although I had most of those, but the boys and girls wasn’t as specified as the drugs and cigarettes.

Kel: My grandmother was the kind of person… she is. thank God she is alive… but she would say you should not go to your friend’s house because, you know, their parents might get annoyed at you and you don’t want them to be talking about you or everyone’s going to know what you are, you know, an annoying kid or something, so it was like, ok….

Pete: But you were, right?

Kel: I was, but anyway, that was pretty much like very different like I remember you saying that yeah I would just go back home once the lights were…

Pete: Exactly, so they would let me out, I’d play skateboard, ride my bike around and you know fall off that and play ball games. Kicking the ball around, playing soccer, footy and my parents would just say when the street lights come on just come home. And so you knew that they would have an eye outside and be keeping an eye on the street lights and if they came on and I wasn’t home quick enough then they would come and find me and I’d usually be in trouble. So, that was that was pretty good. My upbringing was pretty good here, my sister and I never had a really close relationship.

Kel: Yeah, I was going to ask you about sibling rivalry…

Kel: So compared to you you and your sister have this incredibly strong connection and I think we’ve spoken about it where I think potentially your parents divorce led you to being incredibly close, which may have happened in my case, had that had happened in my family, but because it didn’t happen my sister and I were always competing for attention, resources, probably praise, you know, I got this on a test, would did he get? blah blah blah. And so we… until more recently, like probably more recent years, maybe the last five years, me and my sister, my sister and I did not have a close relationship and I would have… I would probably say we really disliked each other, you know, in that teen years.

Kel: That’s so funny, because she’s so lovely,..

Pete: She is now.

Kel: She is so lovely. I’m always like what are you talking about? She’s amazing!

Pete: She is lovely now and that’s why we’re close, we’re close now, we see each other.

Kel: It’s funny how things turn up differently. Like, for me having my parents divorce is such a young age… I didn’t have the emotional security from them, you know, when I was little and I had to… I had to have someone so my sister and I we became really close and best friends, we would take care of each other, do everything together. Of course, you had fights, you know, every every now and then, but overall it was just like love we’ve always been friends and it’s…that’s so interesting.

Pete: But back on the grandparents. So, I never knew my dad’s father. He died from lung cancer from smoking before I was born. I knew my grandmother, his mother, but she died from brain cancer when I was 12, from smoking as well. They smoked a lot and that obviously led to these cancers. So that was pretty sad. Growing up I remember that was the first big death in the family was my grandmother passing away and at the time it was really kind of upsetting because I was very close with her, but not close with my mother’s parents very much because they were a lot different. My mother’s parents were very strict kind of upper class, proper people, who said grace before dinner. They were religious too and very rigid, very straight, very organised and I don’t know, proper, proper is probably the best, whereas my grandmother having her husband who had passed away maybe a decade before, she was always like….We would go to her house and she would do everything for us and we’d be all about us. It would be like What do you want to do? Do you want to play games? Do you want to go to the beach? Do you want to do this? Whereas going to my mother’s parents house it would always be like this is what we’re doing, this is what we’re going to be eating, where we’re going and it was more about what they wanted to do fitting us in. But in more recent years, having obviously grown up a bit myself, I’ve gotten to know my grandparents a lot more and we have a close relationship now, my mother’s parents who are both still alive and I think 85 and 87, although they tend to not talk about their age very often.

Kel: It’s funny like we went there and I felt this generation gap, you know, how… you know, just different things are and the world changed around you, you’re just getting older and talking to them just like… what about this person? We don’t know who those people were…

Pete: Their parents, they were talking about my great grandparents.

Kel: So, really, really interesting.

Pete: Exactly, Awesome. And I think what else should we chat about with regards to discussing family? So that’s probably a good start to how the discussion would go. It may not go as long as that.

Kel: No, probably not, but make…keep in mind you have to talk more than examiner. So, if you’re talking, that’s awseomw, if the other person needs to keep pushing you, that’s not a good sign. Something that might be interesting to mention, some people are only child, right?

Pete: Children.

Kel: Children, see?!

Kel: And they might have a completely different structure from, you know, our families like I have siblings, you have a sister if they ask like talk about your siblings or whatever just say yeah, I’m an only child and that’s, you know, my parents decided not to have another baby so, things like that. It might change depending on your family structure.

Pete: But I think it’s a good thing to think about too is just when they obviously you to start talking about your family, pick one person to begin with them and then just go through the people, you know. So, obviously you’ll be starting with yourself, and you’ll introduce yourself, you can talk about your history, where you’re from and then you can just go ok my father blah, my mother blah, my siblings, my brother, my sister, my half sister, my half brother, you know, you can talk about those relationships and then go on to grandparents. I guess preparing you could list all the people you could potentially talk about and I’m sure the examiners won’t give you enough time to go through all of them in your family, right? So as long as you switch between them and then you’re going to end up with this chain of thoughts that ends up in any sort of discussion.

Kel: And they might be really specific as well. So, we were saying talk about a family but they might ask if something really like tell me more about your mother, or what values you get from your mother? Things like that so that that’s when you have to be quite specific and just talk about this one person because if you keep changing they might think, oh you’re not fully… fully responding to the question.

Pete: Brilliant. Alright, guys, we might finish up here for the free content. So, this is going to be on the podcast, obviously and it’s going to be on the YouTube channel. Make sure that if you would like all of the bonus content for this episode today where we’re going to break down more of these expressions, collocations and hopefully give you more tools for describing your family and doing better on IELTS, make sure that you go to theaussieenglishclassroom.com sign up. The link will be below. See you there.

AE 506 – Expression: Out of the Blue

A male surfer’s been killed in a shark attack near Wedge Island north of Perth. The attack happened just after 9 O’clock local time. Joining us now for more on the story is Sky News Perth reporter Michael Hopkins. Mike, what do we know at this stage?

Yes, hello. Well, what we know at this stage is that police have confirmed that it was, indeed, a fatal shark attack at Wedge Island, a holiday spot to Perth’s north at 9 O’clock this morning. Now, police are still searching the area with boats and also with quad bikes on the beach in a bid to find the surfer’s remains.

****

What is up, guys? What is up, you mob? How are you going? This is the first episode where you guys get to hear from ‘married Pete’.

So, how’s it going? Sorry, it’s been a little while with these expression episodes. I hope, as well, that you’ve got to check out the marriage and wedding episode that I published recently on the podcast and on YouTube. So, go and check that out if you haven’t and if you want to hear about all of what happened last weekend with Kel and me getting married. It was an amazing day. Anyway.

So, the video from the start there, guys, the video from the start was from Sky News, which you can check out at SkyNews.com.au. You can also check them out on YouTube and Sky News if you would like to watch stories about Australia and other parts of the world.

So, that was about a shark attack that occurred in Australia, and Australia is relatively well-known for having shark attacks relatively commonly, I guess. It’s up there in the most dangerous places in the world for sharks, but we will talk about that later on in the Aussie Fact as well as about some other animals that are more likely to kill you than sharks, and those animals might surprise you.

So, as usual guys, if you would like to support the podcast and you would like to get access to all the transcripts and all the MP3s for these episodes, make sure that you go to theAussieEnglishPodcast.com, go to the menu click ‘Sign Up’, and for just $4.99 per month you will get access to everything.

On top of that, guys, if you would like to get access to the Aussie English Classroom and all the courses that I make for these expression episodes with vocab, with expression videos, with pronunciation videos, and other courses too with Australian interviews and Australian pronunciation, make sure that you go to theAussieEnglishClassroom.com, and then click ‘Enroll’, and sign up and get in there and start levelling up your English.

I want to say a big thank you to all of you guys who signed up in the last week. We had been doing a special promotion for year memberships and 3-month memberships and a heap of you guys signed up. So, it is so good to see that the Aussie English Classroom is expanding and helping so many people. And it was a way of thanking you guys for your hard work and giving you an amazing deal when you sign up for three months or a year.

Now, those deals are gone, unfortunately, for now. They are gone. However, you are still able to sign up. You just won’t save the same amount of money. Okay. So, you’ll just jump over to theAussieEnglishClassroom.com if you’re interested in that. Anyway. Enough of talking about all that stuff, guys. Get that out of the way and let’s get into the Aussie English joke.

So, today’s expression’s ‘out of the blue’ and that have me thinking about sharks. You might see the connection later on. And so, I thought I’ll try and find a shark joke. Okay. So, here’s the joke.

What did the seal with a broken arm say to the shark? What did a seal with a broken arm say did the shark?

Do not consume if ‘seal’ is broken. It’s so stupid. Do not consume if ‘seal’ is broken.

I wonder if you get that. Alright, let me explain. So, often when you go to the shops, if you buy something that’s in a jar or in some kind of packet, quite often it will say that if the seal of the jar of the seal of the packet is broken, don’t consume the food inside, because it means that air has gotten in and there may be bacteria in there and the food may have gone off, it may have gone bad. Okay. So, you’ll often see, ‘Do not consume if seal is broken’.

So, the joke here is that obviously a seal is also that animal, you know, that lives in the ocean and jumps on the land sometimes to sunbathe than have babies, but they are often hunted by sharks, and so, the seal with a broken arm says to the shark, ‘don’t consume if seal is broken’. Jesus. Anyway, guys.

Today’s expression is ‘out of the blue’ and this came from Fatimah in the Aussie English Classroom. We have the Facebook group. We vote on these expressions. Fatimah suggested this one and she crushed it, she did very well, and it got voted on by everyone. Let’s go through and define the words in ‘out of the blue’.

So, ‘out of something’, right. ‘Out of something’. If you’re out of something, it’s that you’re coming out of something, you’re exiting something, right. It’s sort of the opposite of going into something, ‘out of something’ is leaving something, from being within something. Okay. Pretty self-explanatory. I’m sure you guys know what ‘out of something’ is.

‘The blue’. Now, this might be more confusing. ‘Blue’ is obviously a colour, right. The sky is blue. The ocean is blue. My eyes are blue. What else is blue? I don’t know. Other things are blue. Anyway. In this case, though, it doesn’t refer to the colour, specifically. It’s referring to the sky, which I guess is blue. But ‘the blue’ in this case means the sky.

So, let’s define the expression ‘out of the blue’. I wonder if you guys have heard this. Something happens out of the blue, right. If it’s… just appears out of the blue. What could that mean?

‘Out of the blue’ means out of nowhere, to appear unexpectedly or surprisingly, you know. You’re not expecting that thing to happen or to appear. It is appearing out of the blue. It’s appearing out of nowhere.

So, ‘the blue’ in this case refers to the sky, the blue sky, as we said, and usually, thunderstorms with, you know, thunder and lightning, don’t tend to happen when there’s a clear blue sky. But when it does happen, it’s a surprise that no one expects, it’s unexpected, it’s surprising. And apparently an older version of this expression was ‘a bolt out of the blue’ or ‘a bolt from the blue’, which referred to a completely unexpected and surprising appearance of a thunderbolt from a clear blue sky, right, out of nowhere.

So, we can use this literally, if someone, say, appears in front of you. They appear out of nowhere. You know, it’s shocking, it’s surprising, unexpected. But we can use it to for things that people say or maybe emotions, you know, non-physical things, right. So, if someone suddenly says something or burps or yawns or, you know, does something like that where you could say, oh, that was out of the blue. You know, I got upset and it was out of the blue.

So, let’s go through some examples, guys, to try and show you how I would use this expression in my day-to-day life. Okay.

So, example number one. Imagine that you are going to the beach with your mates. You’re about to hit the beach. You want to go for a surf or a body board or a body surf or maybe just a cheeky dip in the ocean at your favourite beach, your favourite Australian beach, maybe Bondi Beach or Bell’s Beach down here where Rip Curl Pro is often held each year, the surfing competition. So, you all dive into it. You pile out of the car when you get to the beach. You put your wettie is on, or maybe you’re wearing board shorts, you put your boardies on, your grab your boards and you dive into the water to catch a first wave. The waves are about six foot. It’s incredibly clean, you know, it’s not choppy, it’s not… the water’s not rough, there’s an offshore wind as well making the waves perfect, and you and your mates are carving it up each time you catch one of these incoming waves. When all of a sudden, out of the blue, one of your mates spots a large fin pop above the surface of the water a few metres away. Now, you all panic, you all frantically start swimming to shore and fear the worst. You think, oh no, it’s going to be a shark and it’s going to ruin our awesome day. But it turns out to be a lone dolphin who wants to join your ranks to catch a wave or two itself. So, it just appeared out of the blue, unexpectedly, out of nowhere.

Example number two. You’re at home on a weekend and you plan on binge watching your favorite TV show, right. I was doing this recently watching The Walking Dead. So, you’ve got to drink out of the fridge, you know, your favorite beer, your favorite soft drink, you’ve got some chips or your favorite snack, and you’ve kicked back on the couch and you’ve put the first episode on. So, you get through most of the show, but the tension starts to build, the show starts to climax, there’s a bit of suspense, something big is about to happen in the show when all of a sudden, out of the blue, the power goes off, the TV screen goes black. You might scream out, no! I wanted to see what was going to happen. You’ll lose it, you get upset, because you can’t see what was about to happen on the show, because out of the blue, unexpectedly, surprisingly, out of nowhere, the power went out.

Example number three. You’re at home one day cleaning the house after your kids have been playing and they’ve made a bit of a mess of the place, right. They’d been mucking around with finger-paint or food or something. They’ve made a mess. So, you’re busy cleaning away, when all of a sudden, the doorbell goes or someone knocks on the door. So, you go and open it up and it turns out that it’s a long-lost friend who you haven’t seen since you were at school, you know, maybe 20 years ago. So, you might say, Wow! How did you know I was here? That’s so out of the blue. Where did you come from? I haven’t seen you in yonks. I haven’t seen you in donkey’s years. I haven’t seen you in ages. But what an awesome surprise. It’s great to see you even if it is randomly and out of the blue.

So, hopefully guys you understand the expression now ‘out of the blue’. It is for something to appear physically or figuratively out of nowhere, unexpectedly, surprisingly.

So, as usual, let’s go through a listen and repeat exercise where you guys can practice your pronunciation. You can work on your Australian accent if that is something that you are trying to master at the moment. Listen and repeat after me. Or work on the accent that you are currently targeting, you know, British, US, whatever it is, and say these words with that accent. Let’s go.

Out
Out of
Out of the
Out of the blue x 5

It’s pretty interesting, actually. There’s quite a bit of pronunciation and connected speech modifying there when I say those words by themselves or when I say them together, right. Out, out of, out of the, out of the blue. That’s interesting.

Anyway, we’ll go over that more in the Aussie English Classroom pronunciation video for this episode, guys. Remember to sign up to that if you are interested in improving your English and improving your pronunciation. TheAussieEnglishClassroom.com. Oh! And I almost forgot, we’ll go through a sentence and now we will conjugate through, ‘I appeared out of the blue’, ‘you appeared out of the blue’. Okay, so listen and repeat after me.

I appeared out of the blue

You appeared out of the blue

He appeared out of the blue

She appeared out of the blue

We appeared out of the blue

They appeared out of the blue

It appeared out of the blue

Man, there’s a lot of t-flaps going on there. ‘It appeared out of the blue’.

Alright. Aussie English Fact for the day, guys. So, sharks. I wanted to talk about shark attacks as they tend to occur out of the blue, right, and they’re a common occurrence in Australia, at least the media would have you believe this. It tends to always be one on the on the TV every week or two, you hear about a shark attack. And then I want to talk about shark culling, okay? And this is a hot topic that pollies, politicians, are always yacking about on the telly as well.

Alright, so unsurprisingly shark attacks have been happening in Australia since the first humans arrived here nearly 50,000 or 60,000 years ago when they first surrendered to the enticing ocean waters that surrounded the continent. The earliest shark attack that was fatal that’s on record occurred in the early years of British colonisation in Port Jackson where an Aboriginal woman was swimming and she was, quote, “bitten in two” by a shark.

Between the years of 1958 and 2018, there have been 536 shark attacks in Australia, and we are number two on the list of shark attacks in the world. 73 of these shark attacks proved to be fatal to the victims. Australia comes in at number two with the US at number one with more than double the number of shark attacks at 1104. But despite this, there are actually twice as many deaths in Australia as there are in the US who recorded only 35 fatalities in the same period of time. Interesting. It seems that, statistically speaking, in Australia you have the highest chance of being attacked and killed by a shark than anywhere else in the world.

If you’re interested in taking your chances at the most dangerous beach in Australia, then I suggest heading off to Coffin Bay in South Australia whose name seems appropriate, although, there may not be enough of you left to warrant using a coffin.

Although, shark attacks often receive a lot of air time on national and state news, you’re far more likely to be killed by a bunch of other less-suspecting and cute and cuddly animals Down Under.

In 2011, Australia’s National Coronial Information System, or NCIS, released its first report into the trends and patterns surrounding animal-related deaths in Australia where they evaluated the first decade of this century from the years 2000 to 2010. The report discovered that horses, including ponies and donkeys, were Australia’s most deadly animal causing 77 deaths in a 10-year period. So, 7.7 deaths a year.

Next on the list of cute and cuddly but more likely to kill you than a shark were cows, including bulls and cattle, which accounted for 33 deaths, 16 of which, interestingly enough, were during motor vehicle accidents. So, to any cows listening, get off the bloody road!

Number three on the list was man’s best friend, dogs, who killed 27 people from attacks most of which were children under the age of four and the elderly.

And the final unsuspecting death bringer to humans on this list before sharks is the iconic and much beloved Australian kangaroo, which accounted for 18 deaths, albeit, indirectly, through motor vehicle accidents. So, again, Skippy, get off the road!

Place five and six was a tie with bees and sharks both accounting for 16 deaths in a 10-year period. So, 1.6 deaths per year. So, there you go.

Next time you’re second guessing taking a dip at Bondi Beach for fear of being devoured by the tooth-filled gnashing jaws of a shark, remember, that you’re much more likely to die from animals like horses, cows, kangaroos, dogs, and even bees than you are sharks.

So, why do sharks attack humans? Are they hunting us like the movie Jaws famously depicts? The answer is definitely no. Feeding is not the reason that sharks attack humans. In fact, humans don’t provide enough high-fat meat for sharks, which need a lot of energy to power their large muscular bodies. Sharks are just inquisitive animals and have no hands to explore the world around them and these unknown objects that they might stumble across bobbing around in the ocean. Therefore, they’re left with a jaw full of razor-sharp teeth to satiate their curiosity and explore any objects they may come across. Unfortunately, for us though, one simple exploratory nip from a large shark is usually a grievous and life-threatening injury to any human when coming from a great white, a tiger, or a bull shark, the three sharks that are the most common culprits for human fatalities.

Unfortunately, beach-loving Australians are insistent on partaking in one of their favorite pastimes, their favourite hobbies, enjoying the beaches and oceans around the country. And shark attacks often cause hysteria in the media and are quickly commandeered by politicians looking to gain favour and win votes by stirring up fear and promising easy solutions.

This is where the contentious issue of shark nets and drum lines come into play in Australia. Shark nets are often placed in the water to prevent sharks entering certain beaches, but they are criticised by environmentalists and conservationists alike who claim that these nets are extremely destructive to marine life and often harm or even kill sharks, which are an important part of a healthy marine ecosystem.

Drum lines are unmanned aquatic traps used to lure, capture, and kill large sharks using baited hooks connected to floating drums that indiscriminately kill any shark curious enough to take a bite of the bait. They’re often deployed in locations after an attack in the hopes of catching the perpetrating shark that attacked a human or at least reducing the numbers of big sharks in the area. However, like shark nets, drum lines have been heavily criticised as being ineffective, cruel, unethical, non-scientific, and environmentally destructive. One analogy I saw was if a tradie murdered one person and then disappeared, would killing five other Australian tradies at random make Australia safer?

So, finishing up, every time you decide to take a dip in the ocean you’re obviously at risk of a shark attack. True. But you’re much more likely to die from things like kangaroos and horses in car accidents than you are from a shark. So, just be safe, be smart, and if you want to bring your risk to 0%, stay out of the water. Simple as that.

Anyway, guys thank you so much. It’s always a pleasure when you guys join me and listen to these episodes. I know that they’re helping a lot of people. You get back to me, you send me emails, you send me comments on Instagram, on Facebook, and it means a lot to me, guys, and I’ll want to give you a big, big, big thank you from both me and Kel to everyone who gave us their well-wishes and congratulations after the wedding. That really meant a lot to both of us. So, thank you so much, guys, and we were so happy to be able to share that experience with you as well on Instagram and on YouTube.

So, that’s it for this week guys. I hope you enjoy the episode. I hope to see you in the Aussie English Classroom and I will chat to you very soon. See you, guys.